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Stafford

Stafford is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about 15 mi south of Stoke-on-Trent, 15 mi north of Wolverhampton, and 24 mi northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 in 2021, and is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Stafford, which had a population of 136,837 in 2021.

Stafford has Anglo-Saxon roots, being founded in 913, when Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia founded a defensive burh, it became the county town of Staffordshire soon after. Stafford became an important market town in the Middle Ages, and later grew into an important industrial town due to the proliferation of shoemaking, engineering and electrical industries.

Ancient
Prehistoric finds suggest scattered settlements in the area, whilst 2.5 mile south-west of the town lies an Iron Age hill fort at Berry Ring. There is also evidence of Roman activity in the area, with finds around Clark and Eastgate Street. However it is thought that the Romans reclaimed the marsh for agriculture rather than settlement.

Anglo-Saxon
Stafford means "ford" by a staithe (landing place). The original settlement was on a near island, on a gravelly lowland bounded by loop of the River Sow to the south and west (a tributary of the River Trent). The eastern boundary was formed by Sandyford brook, with a marshy area to the north. Despite many drains being constructed in the 19th century, the area is still prone to flooding.

Stafford has been identified as the island of Bethney, or Bethnei where St Bertelin is said to have founded a hermitage about AD 700, before moving to a more remote area.

Others then settled in the area and named it Stafford. There may have been a settlement near the river crossing in 913, when Æthelflæd, Lady of Mercia founded a burh (fortified settlement) at Stafford; one of many founded across Mercia as part of her campaign against the Danes (Vikings). A mint was founded at Stafford by King Æthelstan (924-39) which continued in operation until the reign of Henry II (1154–89). Stafford also provided an industrial area for centralised production of Roman-style pottery (Stafford Ware), which was supplied to a chain of West Midlands burhs.

The county of Staffordshire was formed at about this time, with Stafford as its county town. Stafford lay within the Pirehill hundred.

Norman and medieval
In 1069, a rebellion by Eadric the Wild against the Norman conquest culminated in the Battle of Stafford. Two years later another rebellion, led by Edwin, Earl of Mercia, ended in Edwin's assassination and distribution of his lands among the followers of William the Conqueror, who granted Robert de Tonei (later known as Robert de Stafford) the manor of Bradley and one third of the king's rents in Stafford. The estate became the seat of the powerful Stafford family. Stafford Castle, was first built by Robert de Stafford on a nearby hilltop to the west around 1070. It was first made of wood and later rebuilt in stone around 1348. It has been rebuilt since.

Stafford was a walled town by 1086. The town walls were probably wooden originally, but later rebuilt in stone. There were four gates on the roads into the town from the north, south, east and west. By around 1670 the walls were in ruin, and their remnants were gradually demolished.

Stafford became an important market town during the Middle Ages, which had a particular focus of trading cloth and wool. By the 1280s there were various trades such as tanning, glove making and shoe making being practised in the town. A guild of shoemakers was founded in 1476.

Medieval Stafford was served by two churches; St Chad's, which is the oldest building in Stafford, dating from the mid-12th century, and St Mary's which dates from the early-13th century.

King Richard II was paraded through the town's streets as a prisoner in 1399, by troops loyal to Henry Bolingbroke (the future Henry IV).

Tudor
In 1521, Stafford was described as 'a proper and fair town', although it went into decline during the Tudor period, and in 1540, many of the houses were described as being in a state of disrepair. Elizabeth I visited Stafford in 1575, at this time the town was still in a state of decay.

The Ancient High House, believed to be the largest timber-framed town house in England, was built in 1595 by John Dorrington; it was extensively restored during 1976-86.

17th century
When James I visited Stafford in 1617, he was said to be so impressed by the Shire Hall and other buildings that he called it "Little London". During the English Civil War, Stafford was initially held by the Royalists; King Charles I visited Stafford shortly after the outbreak of the war in September 1642, staying for three days at the Ancient High House. The town resisted two assaults by the Parliamentarians in February 1643, but was later taken by them in May 1643, when a force led by Sir William Brereton captured the town by stealth. Stafford then became the seat of the parliamentary county committee. Stafford Castle was defended by a garrison led by Lady Isabel Stafford, but the Parliamentarians finally won control in 1643. A few months later an order was given for the demolition of the castle. However, Stafford's famous son Izaak Walton, author of The Compleat Angler, was a staunch Royalist.

In 1658 Stafford elected John Bradshaw, who had been judge at the trial of King Charles I, to represent the town in Parliament. During the reign of Charles II, William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford became implicated in the Popish Plot, in which Titus Oates whipped up anti-Catholic feeling with claims of a plot to have the king killed. Lord Stafford was among those accused; he was unfortunate to be the first to be tried and was beheaded in 1680. The charge was false and on 4 June 1685, the bill of attainder against him was reversed.

18th century to present
The town was represented in Parliament from 1780 by the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. During that period, the town's mechanised shoe industry was founded, the best-known factory owner being William Horton. The shoemaking industry flourished over the next century, and became Stafford's staple trade, at its height in the 1880s, there were 39 manufacturers in the town. The industry went into steady decline from thereon, and by 1958 there was just one manufacturer, Lotus remaining. The last shoe factory was demolished in 1998.

In 1814, Stafford was linked to the canal network by the River Sow Navigation; a short navigation which linked Stafford to the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. The navigation fell into disuse in the 1930s.

The railways arrived in Stafford in 1837 when the Grand Junction Railway was opened, linking the Liverpool and Manchester Railway to Birmingham, which provided the first rail connection to London. The Trent Valley Railway to Rugby and then direct to London, was opened in 1847. Two more lines, both now closed then followed, from Stafford to Shrewsbury in 1849, and to Uttoxeter in 1867. Stafford became a major junction, which helped to attract other industries.

In the late 19th century, Stafford's economy began to diversify into engineering, when the locomotive manufacturer W. G. Bagnall opened a large works in the town in 1875. In the early 1900s electrical engineering became a major activity, when Siemens Brothers, opened a large factory in the town, producing such items as electrical motors, generators and transformers. The electrical industry has been under the ownership of several companies since, including English Electric and GEC.

The Friars' Walk drill hall was completed in 1913, just in time for the First World War.

The M6 motorway was opened to the west of Stafford in 1962.

In 2013 Stafford celebrated its 1,100th anniversary year with a number of history-based exhibitions, while local historian Nick Thomas and writer Roger Butters were set to produce the two-volume A Compleat [sic] History of Stafford.

Civic history
Stafford was already an ancient borough by the time of the Domesday Book of 1086. Its borough status was confirmed in 1206, when King John issued a charter. Stafford was reconstituted as a municipal borough in 1835. The borough boundaries were expanded in 1876, 1917 and 1934.

The modern Borough of Stafford covers a much larger area then the town itself, and was created in 1974, when the old municipal borough of Stafford was merged with the Stafford Rural District, the Stone Rural District and the Stone Urban District.

Landmarks
The Elizabethan Ancient High House in the town centre is the largest timber-framed town house in England. It is now a museum with temporary exhibitions.

Stafford Castle was built by the Normans on the nearby hilltop to the west in about 1090, replacing the post-Conquest fort in the town. It was first made of wood, and later rebuilt of stone. It has been rebuilt twice since, and the ruins of the 19th-century Gothic revival castle crowning the earthworks incorporate much of the original stonework. The castle has a visitor centre with audio-visual displays and hands-on items. There is also a recreated medieval herb garden. Shakespeare productions take place in the castle grounds each summer. The castle forms a landmark for drivers, as it is visible from the M6 motorway.

The oldest building now in Stafford is St Chad's Church, dating back to the 12th century. The main part of the church is richly decorated. Carvings in its archways and on its pillars may have been made by a group of stonemasons from the Middle East who came to England during the Crusades. Much of the stonework was covered up in the 17th and 18th centuries and the church took on a neo-classical style. In the early 19th-century restoration, work was carried out on the church and the Norman decoration rediscovered. The church hosts "Timewalk", a computer-generated display that relates the journey of history and mystery within the walls of the church.

St Mary's, the collegiate church formerly linked to St Bertelin's chapel, was rebuilt in the early 13th century on a cruciform plan, with an aisled nave and chancel typical of the period. It has an impressive octagonal tower, once topped by a tall steeple, which can be picked out in Gough's plan shown above. The church was effectively two churches in one, divided by a screen, with the parish using the nave and the collegiate canons the chancel. St Mary's was restored in 1842 by Giles Gilbert Scott.

The Shire Hall was built in 1798 as a court house and office of the Mayor and Clerk of Stafford. The Shire Hall used to be the town's court house, and is a Grade II listed building. In recent times, the building was used as an art gallery and library, before a new facility was built within the new council buildings, The Market Square has recently gone under a £20 million redevelopment which is due to be completed by December 2023.

Green Hall on Lichfield Road is a Grade II listed manor house (now apartments), originally built about 1810 as Forebridge Hall, known after 1880 as Green Hall. It was previously used as a girls' school and as council offices.

The Shugborough Hall country estate is 4 mi out of town. It once belonged to the Earls of Lichfield and is now owned by the National Trust. The 19th-century Sandon Hall is 5 mi north-east of Stafford. It is set in 400 acre of parkland, as the seat of the Earl of Harrowby. Weston Hall stands 5 mi east of Stafford, in the Trent valley with a large park and was once part of the Chartley estate. It is thought that the main part of the hall was built about 1550 as a small dower house, but the architectural evidence suggests it is Jacobean. Weston Hall was extended in 1660 into a three-gabled structure with high-pitched roofs.

Culture
Stafford Gatehouse Theatre is the town's main entertainment and cultural venue. Its Met Studio is a dedicated to stand-up comedy and alternative live music. There is an art gallery in the Shire Hall. Staffordshire County Showground, just outside the town, holds many national and local events. The annual Shakespeare Festival at Stafford Castle has attracted many notable people, including Frank Sidebottom and Ann Widdecombe. Victoria Park, opened in 1908, is a 13-acre (53 ha) Edwardian riverside park with a play park, bowling green, bird cages and greenhouses. It has a children's play area, a sand-and-water-jet area replacing an open-air paddling pool, and a bmx/skateboard area. Stafford also has a 9-hole golf course near the town centre.

Recent developments on Riverside allowed for an expansion of the town, notably with a new Odeon cinema to replace the ageing one at the end of the high street. Stafford Film Theatre is based at the Gatehouse Theatre and shows independent and alternative films. There is a tenpin bowling alley at Greyfriars Place. The new Stafford Leisure Centre opened in 2008 on Lammascote Road.

Night life consists of smaller bar and club venues such as Casa, the Grapes, the Picture House, neighbouring night clubs Couture and Poptastic, Hogarths, and rock gigs at the live music venue Redrum. Most of these are in walking distance of each other. There is a big student patronage, with coaches bringing them from Stoke-on-Trent, Cannock, and Wolverhampton.

A new shopping centre was completed in 2017, housing major stores and a number of restaurants, The Guildhall shopping centre is undergoing major redevelopment as accommodation and now only supports 5 shops

Newspapers
Stafford is covered by the Express and Star and Staffordshire Newsletter, neither of which have offices in the town.

Television
Stafford is covered by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central, both broadcasting from Birmingham to the wider West Midlands region. Stafford is mainly served by the Sutton Coldfield transmitting station, just north of Birmingham, but some residents get a better picture from The Wrekin transmitting station, near Telford.

Radio
In terms of BBC Local Radio, Stafford is covered by BBC Radio Stoke, with a transmitter based on top of the County Education building. In commercial radio, Stafford is covered by Greatest Hits Radio programming from London, Manchester or Birmingham for most of the day), broadcasting on 96.1 FM from a transmitter at Pye Green BT Tower, near Hednesford.

Stafford can also receive the West Midlands regionals, like Heart West Midlands and Smooth West Midlands, and is at the very north of Free Radio's Black Country and Shropshire coverage area.

BFBS Gurkha Radio broadcasts locally on 1278 kHz medium wave from Beacon Barracks.

Stafford FM is a volunteer run community radio station which attracts a very small audience in the town.

Climate
Like most of the British Isles, Stafford has a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. The nearest Met Office weather station is at Penkridge, about 5 miles to the south.

Economy
Stafford has a history of shoemaking as far back as 1476, when it was a cottage industry, but a manufacturing process was introduced in the 1700s. William Horton founded a business in 1767 that became the largest shoe company in Stafford, selling worldwide. He had several government contracts through the town's Member of Parliament (MP), the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. The shoe industry gradually died out in the late 20th century, with Lotus Shoes the last manufacturer. Its factory in Sandon Road was demolished in 2001 and replaced by housing.

A locomotive firm, WG Bagnall, was set up in 1875 to manufacture steam engines for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway and the Great Western Railway. Between 1875 and 1962, the Castle Engine Works in Castle Town produced 1,869 locomotives, including steam, diesel and electric. It was taken over in 1961 by English Electric, which also bought the Stafford-based engine manufacturer WH Dorman & Company. This had merged with Bagnall's by then.

Since 1901, a major industrial activity has been heavy electrical engineering, particularly power station transformers. The works have been successively owned by Siemens Brothers, English Electric, GEC and GEC Alsthom. Alstom T&D was sold in 2004 to Areva. At the end of 2009, Areva T&D was split between former owners Alstom and Schneider Electric. At the end of 2015, the works were acquired by General Electric consolidating Stafford as the Centre of Excellence for HVDC, AC Substations and Converter Transformers. Each transformer weighs several hundred tons and a road train is used for transport. In the 1968 Hixon rail crash, one such road train was struck by an express train on a level crossing.

British Reinforced Concrete Engineering (BRC) moved from Manchester, and opened a large factory in Stafford in 1926. In the late 1970s, BRC employed around 750 people in Stafford, however the business declined, and the factory closed in 1990.

Perkins Engines has a factory for diesel engines in Littleworth. Adhesives manufacturer Bostik has a large factory in the town. Stafford is also a dormitory town for commuting to Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham.

Private service industries based in Stafford include TopCashback. The public sector provides much local employment, with Staffordshire County Council, Stafford Borough Council and Staffordshire Police all headquartered in the town. Stafford Prison, County Hospital and Beacon Barracks are other sources of public-sector employment.

The town was home to the computer science and IT campus of Staffordshire University, along with Beaconside campus, which housed the Faculty of Computing Engineering and Technology and part of the Business School. These have all been transferred to Stoke-on-Trent. The only block of Stafford University left in use is the School of Health in Blackheath Lane, which teaches medical nursing. The main Stoke campus lies about 18 mi to the north.

The Guildhall Shopping Centre in the centre of town offered over 40 retail outlets, it has since closed  The three superstores around the main town centre were joined by two others in 2018.

Demographics
At the 2021 census there were 70,145 residents in Stafford, up from 68,472, in the 2011 census, and 62,440 in the 2001 census.

In terms of ethnicity in 2021:
 * 90.6% of Stafford residents were White
 * 4.5% were Asian
 * 1.6% were Black
 * 2.3% were Mixed.
 * 0.7% were from another ethnic group.

In terms of religion, 51.8% of Stafford residents identified as Christian, 42.9% said they had no religion, 1.7% were Muslim, 1.5% were Hindu, 0.8% were Sikh, 0.6% were Buddhists, and 0.6% were from another religion.

Railways
Stafford railway station was once a major railway hub, but the suspension of passenger services on the Stafford to Uttoxeter line in 1939 and Beeching's closure of the Stafford to Shrewsbury Line in 1964 eliminated the station's east-west traffic. The years up to 2008 saw cross-country trains (operated by Virgin CrossCountry) stopping at Stafford less frequently. Since Arriva CrossCountry took over the franchise and adopted a new timetable in 2008, this has reversed and services between Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street almost always stop at Stafford, giving a service typically every 30 mins on weekdays. Beyond Birmingham, the services continue alternately to Bristol Temple Meads and Bournemouth.

Avanti West Coast services to London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street operate hourly in each direction seven days a week. In December 2008, London Midland introduced a service stopping at Stafford on the Crewe to London Euston route and a Birmingham New Street–Liverpool Lime Street service that departs from Stafford normally every 30 mins on weekdays. These are now operated by West Midlands Trains. At least one train a day in each direction between Birmingham New Street and Crewe is operated by Transport for Wales, usually the first and last of the day.

Roads
Junctions 13 (Stafford South & Central) and 14 (Stafford North) of the M6 motorway provide access to the town, so that Birmingham and Manchester are easily reached. The A34 runs through the town centre and links with Stone and Stoke-on-Trent to the north and to the West Midlands conurbation to the south including Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton. The A518 road connects Stafford with Telford to the south-west and Uttoxeter to the north-east. This is the main route to the theme park at Alton Towers. The A449 runs south from the town centre to the nearby town of Penkridge and to Wolverhampton. Finally, the A513 runs east from Stafford to the local towns of Rugeley and Lichfield.

Buses
Following acquisition of Arriva Cannock depot in 2020, Local bus services in Stafford are operated by D&G Bus trading as Chaserider, running services to Lichfield, Cannock, Uttoxeter and Rugeley. Select Bus Services operate a number of local routes to the county town's suburbs, while Arriva Midlands runs one to Telford. National Express West Midlands had operated service 54 between Wolverhampton and Stafford until April 2020, when it was cut short and later withdrawn. Select Bus offer a replacement 877/878 to Wolverhampton calling at rural villages Bradley, Wheaton Aston, Brewood and Coven. Services to Stone and Stoke-on-Trent are handled by First Potteries (service 101).

Stafford has five taxi firms and several independent operators from ranks at the station, Bridge St, Broad St and Salter St.

Canal
The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal runs close to the Baswich and Wildwood areas and was once linked to the River Sow by the River Sow Navigation.

Local government
Staffordshire County Council headquarters are in central Stafford. Most staff in the town work in the Staffordshire Place development, which opened in 2011. The shift of administrative staff to Staffordshire Place meant conversion of most offices into private homes, but the County Council still meets at County Buildings in Martin St.

For much of the 20th century the local municipal council was based at the Borough Hall in Eastgate Street. Following local government reorganisation in 1974, a modern Civic Centre was built for the enlarged Stafford Borough Council in Riverside and completed in 1978.

The town's main library, once in the Shire Hall, it has moved to the ground floor of 1 Staffordshire Place, with smaller libraries in Rising Brook, Baswich and Holmcroft. The William Salt Library in the town centre has a large collection of printed books, pamphlets, manuscripts, drawings, watercolours and transcripts built up by William Salt.

National representation
Stafford has its own parliamentary constituency, represented since 2024 by Leigh Ingham of the Labour Party.

Emergency services
County Hospital provides a range of non-specialist medical and surgical services. Its accident and emergency unit is the only such facility in the town. In March 2009, the hospital was involved in a scandal after the release of a Healthcare Commission report that detailed severe failings. St George's Hospital, part of the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Health Care Trust, is a combination of two historical hospitals: the Kingsmead (previously an elderly care facility) and St George's psychiatric hospital. It provides mental health services, including a psychiatric intensive care unit, secure units, an eating disorder unit, an EMI unit for the elderly and mentally frail, drug and alcohol addiction services, and open wards. There is an outpatient facility, where the town's Alcoholics Anonymous also meets. Rowley Hall Hospital in Rowley Park is private and run by Ramsay Healthcare, but offers some NHS treatment. The town receives primary health care from the South Staffordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Policing is provided by Staffordshire Police, headquartered in Weston Road. Its former headquarters in Cannock Road is giving way to a housing estate. There is a town-centre police station in Eastgate St. Statutory emergency fire and rescue service is provided by the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, which has stations in Beaconside and Rising Brook.

Justice
Stafford Crown Court and Stafford County Court share a building in the town centre. There was a magistrates' court in nearby South Walls, but it closed in 2016. The Shire Hall, completed in 1798, used to be a courthouse but is now an art gallery.

Stafford Prison is a Category C men's prison, operated by HM Prison Service. It holds a number of vulnerable prisoners, mainly sex offenders. It was built on its current site in 1794 and has been in almost continuous use, except between 1916 and 1940.

MOD Stafford
MOD Stafford is located on Beaconside. Originally RAF Stafford, the base was a non-flying Royal Air Force station. It was redesignated MOD Stafford in March 2006, an event marked by a fly-past and a flag-lowering ceremony. For many years, the site employed civilians and military personnel, but it was handed over by the Royal Air Force under the current policy of defence strategy and streamlining. A small Tactical Supply Wing (TSW) still operates from the base, which now houses two Royal Signals units and an RAF Regiment contingent alongside Tactical Supply Wing.

Primary schools

 * Anson CE (A) Primary School
 * Barnfields Primary School
 * Berkswich CE Primary School
 * Blessed Mother Teresa RC Primary School (Formerly Bower Norris)
 * Brooklands Preparatory School (Independent)
 * Burton Manor Primary School
 * Castlechurch Primary School
 * Cooper Perry Primary School
 * Flash Ley Community Primary School
 * John Wheeldon Primary School
 * Leasowes Primary School (founded 2006)
 * Oakridge Primary School (plus nursery)
 * Parkside Primary School
 * Rowley Park Primary Academy (Formerly The Grove)
 * Silkmore Primary School
 * Stafford Preparatory School
 * St Anne's RC Primary School
 * St Austin's RC Primary School
 * St Bede's Preparatory School (Independent)
 * St John's CE Primary School
 * St Leonard's Primary School
 * St Patrick's Catholic Primary School
 * St Paul's Primary School
 * Doxey Primary School
 * Tillington Manor Primary School (formerly Holmcroft Primary School)

Secondary schools

 * Blessed William Howard Catholic School
 * King Edward VI High School (Highfields)
 * Stafford Grammar School. Selective, independent school, Founded 1982.
 * Stafford Manor High School (formerly Rising Brook High School and Stafford Sports College)
 * Sir Graham Balfour School
 * Walton High School
 * Weston Road Academy

Tertiary education
Stafford College is a large college of further education. It also provides some higher education courses on behalf of Staffordshire University, focusing on computing and engineering.

South Staffordshire College has a base in the village of Rodbaston on the edge of Stafford. It is largely an agricultural college.

Staffordshire University had a large campus in the east of the town which focused heavily on computing, engineering and media technologies (film, music and computer games). It also ran teacher-training courses. The university had two halls of residence opposite the campus, the smaller Yarlet with 51 rooms and the larger Stafford Court with 554 Rooms. Stafford Court was divided into 13 "houses" named after local villages. This part of the campus closed in 2016, with the majority of facilities relocating to its new campus in Stoke-on-Trent. The University retains a significant presence at its Blackheath Lane campus to cater for Health related courses, such as Nursing and Paramedics.

Sport
Stafford is home to three association football clubs; Stafford Rangers F.C., Brocton F.C. and Stafford Town F.C., none of which play at a fully professional level.

The town has two rugby union clubs, though again they do not play at a high level.

There is a local hockey club with eight adult teams.

Stafford Post Office Rifle and Pistol Club is a Home Office approved rifle club founded in 1956. It has a 25-yard indoor range attached to the Stafford Post Office Social Club. In addition to short-range indoor shooting facilities, the club has a number of outdoor ranges, including Kingsbury, Sennybridge and Thorpe, for larger-calibre long-range shooting.

Stafford Cricket and Hockey Club, an ECB Clubmark Accredited Club founded in 1864, is almost certainly the town's oldest sports club. It appears to have played originally at the Lammascotes, before being offered a field at the Hough (Lichfield Road/GEC site) in 1899, which belonged to the grammar school. In 1984 the club made a move to Riverway in 1984, as the Hough came under the ownership of GEC. It currently owns 11 acre at Riverway and hosts numerous sports: two cricket pitches in summer and football, mini-football, rugby and hockey facilities in winter. In 1999 it won a £200,000 lottery grant towards a new pavilion completed in 2000, with six changing rooms and a function room. The cricket section welcomes players of all abilities. Four senior sides play on Saturdays. The first and second elevens play in the North Staffordshire and South Cheshire League. The third and fourth elevens play in the Stone and District Cricket League. There is also a senior team that plays in the Lichfield Sunday League. The five junior sides are for under 9s, under 11s, under 13s, under 15s and under 17s.

In December 2018, a parkrun (free weekly timed 5k run/walk) was launched in Stafford on the Isabel Trail, a public foot/cycle path that follows part of the former course of the Stafford–Uttoxeter railway. The run/walk takes place on Saturday mornings at 09:00am, starting at the southern end of the Isabel Trail by Sainsbury's supermarket.

The Staffordshire knot

The Stafford knot, sometimes Staffordshire knot, is a distinctive three-looped tie that is the traditional symbol of the county and county town, used on buildings, logos and coats of arms. It also gives its name to a pub.

Notable people
Notable people from Stafford include the 17th-century author of The Compleat Angler, Izaak Walton, whose cottage at nearby Shallowford is now an angling museum, and the 18th-century playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who was once the local MP. The 1853 Lord Mayor of London Thomas Sidney was also born in the town.

In the early 1900s, the village of Great Haywood near Stafford became home to the famous The Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien and his wife, Edith, in her cottage in the village during the winter of 1916. Surrounding areas were said to have inspired some of his early works.

The Scottish poet, playwright and freelancer Carol Ann Duffy, though born in Glasgow, grew up in Stafford and attended Stafford Girls' High School. She was awarded an OBE in 1995, and a CBE in 2002. Many of her poems describe experiences and places in Stafford. She was the Poet laureate from 2009 to 2019, and now lives in Manchester.

Baron Stafford is a title created several times in the Peerage of England. A full schedule of over 30 of the eponymous title holders is listed at Baron Stafford. Here just three are included.

Early times
In birth order:
 * Ralph de Stafford, 2nd Baron Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford (1301–1372), a notable soldier in the Hundred Years' War
 * Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford (1501–1563) In 1531 Stafford elected him recorder for the borough. He was later appointed JP for Staffordshire and Shropshire and Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire. His descendants supported Catholic missions in the town, leading to the building of St Austin's Church.
 * Richard Barnfield (1574 in Norbury – 1620) poet, had an obscure but close relationship with William Shakespeare that interests scholars.
 * Thomas Maxfield (real name Macclesfield) (c. 1590–1616), Roman Catholic priest and a Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929, was born in Stafford gaol.

18th and 19th cc.
In birth order:
 * Sir Robert Pigot, 2nd Baronet (1720–1796 in Stafford), a British Army officer during the American Revolutionary War
 * Lieutenant General Sir William Congreve, 1st Baronet (1742 in Stafford – 1814), a British military officer who improved artillery strength through gunpowder experiments
 * James Oatley, Sr. (c. 1769 in Stafford – 1839), an Australian watch and clock maker and one-time convict. Oatley, aged 44, was sentenced to penal transportation for life for stealing shirts and bedding. He had an earlier conviction for stealing a ton of cheese.
 * James Trubshaw (1777 in Colwich – 1853) English builder, architect and civil engineer
 * John Prescott Knight RA (1803 in Stafford – 1881) English portrait painter, Secretary of the Royal Academy from 1848 until 1873
 * George Smith (1805–1874), known as Throttler Smith, was an English hangman at Stafford gaol from 1840 until 1872.
 * Charles Pye VC (1820 in Stafford – 1876) sergeant-major, recipient of the Victoria Cross
 * William Palmer (1824 in Rugeley – 1856 in Stafford Prison) an English doctor found guilty in 1855 of the murder by poisoning of his friend John Cook and executed by George Smith in public by hanging
 * Benjamin Broomhall (1829 in Bradley – 1911) author and advocate of foreign missions, administrator of China Inland Mission
 * Francis Webb (1836 in Tixall – 1906) British engineer responsible for the design and manufacture of locomotives for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR)
 * Edward Ilsley (1838 in Stafford – 1926) prelate in the Roman Catholic Church, first Archbishop of Birmingham (1888–1921)
 * Whitaker Wright (1846 in Stafford – 1904) company promoter and swindler, who committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately after his conviction for fraud.
 * Ernest Shears (1849–1917 in Stafford), an Anglican clergyman in South Africa, retired to Stafford.
 * William Gordon Bagnall (1852–1907) British mechanical engineer, founded the locomotive manufacturing company of W.G. Bagnall in 1875 which operated until taken over in 1962 by English Electric
 * Captain Egerton Bagot Byrd Levett-Scrivener (1857 in Milford Hall – 1954) Royal Navy Flag Lieutenant and aide to Vice Admiral George Willes in the Far East
 * Alice Hawkins (1863 in Stafford – 1946) a leading English suffragette among the boot and shoe machinists of Leicester

20th c.
In birth order:
 * G. Godfrey Phillips CBE (1900–1965) was the Town Clerk from 1932 to 1934. He then became secretary and later Commissioner General of the Shanghai Municipal Council.
 * Moira Forsyth (1905–1991) stained-glass artist
 * Falkner Allison (1907–1993) Anglican bishop successively of Chelmsford and the Winchester.
 * Michael John Wise CBE, MC (1918–2015) academic, professor of geography at the University of London
 * Thomas Worrall Kent (1922–2011) Canadian economist, journalist, editor, public servant, and industrialist; born in Stafford
 * Sarah Buck OBE (born 1953) structural and civil engineer and business woman in engineering and construction, attended Stafford Girls High School.
 * Francis Melfort William Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford (born 1954), landowner and peer, Chancellor of Staffordshire University
 * Alun Kyte (born 1964) double murderer, suspected of many other murders of prostitutes
 * Mike Dilger (born 1966) ecologist, ornithologist and TV presenter
 * Sir Jonathan Ive, KBE (born 1967), iPhone designer, went to school at Stafford Walton High School and now resides in San Francisco, California.
 * Hannah Maybank (born in Stafford 1974) artist best known for the ripped and distressed surfaces of her three-dimensional paintings in acrylic.
 * Richard Stone (born 1976) business person founded PR consultancy Stone Junction and lobbied for business to increase salaries during the 2022/3 economic crisis, and provide paid leave to vote.

Music, acting and writing

 * Rodney Milnes OBE (1936–2015) music critic, translator and broadcaster, with an interest in opera
 * Dave Follows (1941–2003), British cartoonist, lived in Stafford best known for his comic strip Creature Feature
 * Patrick Fyffe (1942–2002) creator of Dame Hilda Bracket
 * Pete Haycock (1951 in Stafford – 2013) musician, film score composer and founding member of the Climax Blues Band
 * Storm Constantine (1956–2021) British science fiction and fantasy author primarily known for her Wraeththu series
 * Mark Curry (born in Stafford 1961) actor and television and radio presenter
 * Neil Morrissey (born in Stafford 1962) actor, star of Men Behaving Badly
 * Climax Blues Band formed in 1968, a popular Stafford blues band which later achieved international record success
 * Dominic Mafham (born 1968), actor born in Stafford
 * Medicine Head 1970s hit duo, hailed from nearby Tixall.
 * Dave Gorman (born 1971) comedian, author and television presenter
 * Duncan Botwood (born 1972 in Stafford) video game designer and voice actor
 * Fran Healy (born in Stafford 1973) singer in Travis moved to Scotland when very young.
 * Kieron Gillen, (born 1975) British computer games and music journalist and comic book author. He went to Blessed William Howard Catholic High School.
 * Tom Vaughan (born in Stafford 1985) television actor, played the part of Spike in Channel 4 series Hollyoaks in 2007.
 * Bizarre Inc, rave act formed in 1989
 * Altern-8, rave act formed in Stafford in 1990
 * Chicken Lips, dance music band, production team formed in 1999, successor to Bizarre Inc
 * Anna Chell (born 1994), English actress who has starred in Casualty

Sport

 * Charles Baker (1867–1924) played in the Football League for Stoke F.C. and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
 * Walter Twigg (1883 in Weeping Cross – 1963) field hockey player and cricketer
 * Harry Hutsby (1886 in Stafford – 1971) joined Stoke F.C. in 1908 from local side Stafford Wednesday
 * Bill Aston (1900 in Hopton – 1974) racing driver, participated in three World Championship Grands Prix
 * Joe Hulme (1904–1991) English footballer and cricketer, played 333 times for Arsenal F.C. and 225 times for Middlesex as an aggressive middle-order batsman and medium-fast bowler.
 * Walter Robins (1906–1968) cricketer and footballer. He was one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1930.
 * Brian Little (born 1953) former Aston Villa player and manager lives in the town.
 * Nigel Callaghan (born 1962) professional footballer with Aston Villa, Derby County and Watford, lives and DJs in the town.
 * David Fell (born 1964), cricketer
 * Phil Robinson (born 1967) Recruitment Manager at Manchester City, former footballer, with 567 pro appearances mainly for Notts County, Huddersfield Town, Stoke City, Hereford United and Stafford Rangers.
 * Chris Birchall (born 1984), footballer, scored 21 goals in 322 appearances in a 16-year professional career, and scored four goals in 43 international matches,
 * Christopher Paget (born 1987), right-handed batsman and right-arm offbreak bowler, plays for Derbyshire.
 * Joe Leach (born 1990) cricketer, is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm fast-medium for Worcestershire, as a first-team regular in 2015 and county captain in 2016.
 * Steve Leach (born 1993), cricketer
 * Nick Yelloly (born 1990 in Stafford) auto racing driver
 * Emma Wilkins (born 1991) sprint freestyle swimmer, born in Stafford
 * Morgan Gibbs-White (born 2000 in Stafford) English footballer, midfielder for Nottingham Forest F.C., went to Sir Graham Balfour.

Politics

 * Richard Stanford (1382–1402) politician, MP for Stafford in May 1382, 1386, September 1388, 1391, 1399 and 1402
 * Matthew Cradock (1584–1636) wool merchant, elected MP for Stafford in 1621, re-elected in 1624, 1625 and 1628. He sat until 1629, when King Charles dispensed with Parliament for eleven years.
 * Sir Edward Leigh (1602–1671) an English lay writer on religious topics and MP for Stafford 1645 to 1648.
 * John Swinfen (1613–1694 in Weeford) politician, elected MP for Stafford in 1660 in the Convention Parliament
 * John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell (1779–1861) Liberal MP for Stafford in 1830 & 1831, lawyer and man of letters.
 * Sir Walter Essex (1857–1941) businessman and Liberal Party politician, MP for Stafford from 1910 to 1918
 * Sir Charles Shaw, 1st Baronet (1859 in W'ton – 1942) Liberal Party politician, MP for Stafford from 1892 to 1910
 * William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech KG GCMG PC (1885–1964) Conservative politician and banker, MP for Stafford from 1918 until he entered the House of Lords on succeeding to his father's peerage in 1938.
 * Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft CH PC (1909–1994) Conservative Party politician, MP for Stafford from 1938 to 1945 and Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1957 and 1958
 * Stephen Swingler (1915–1969) Labour Party politician, MP for Stafford from 1945 to 1950, and for Newcastle under Lyme from 1951 to 1969
 * Sir Hugh Fraser MBE PC (1918–1984) Conservative politician, first husband of Lady Antonia Fraser and MP for Stafford from 1945 until 1984
 * Sir William Nigel Paul Cash (born 1940), known as Bill Cash, Conservative politician and MP for Stafford from 1984 to 1997
 * David Kidney (born 1955) Labour Party politician, MP for Stafford from 1997 to 2010
 * Patrick McLoughlin PC MP (born 1957 in Stafford) Conservative Party politician; the son and grandson of coal miners
 * Jeremy Lefroy (born 1959) Conservative Party politician, MP for Stafford from 2010 to 2019

Nature reserves
These nature reserves are in Stafford:
 * Astonfields Balancing Lakes, a local nature reserve, are two lakes constructed in recent decades for flood protection, a mile north of the town centre
 * Doxey Marshes, managed by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, is a wet grassland habitat two miles northwest of the town centre
 * Kingsmead Marsh, a local nature reserve, is a remnant of marshland near the town centre
 * Radford Meadows, managed by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, is a floodplain two miles south of the town centre

Nearby places

 * Brewood
 * Cannock
 * Cannock Chase
 * Creswell
 * Eccleshall
 * Great Haywood
 * Heath Hayes and Wimblebury
 * Hednesford
 * Hixon
 * Lichfield
 * Little Haywood
 * Newport, Shropshire
 * Penkridge
 * Rugeley
 * Shugborough Hall
 * Stoke-on-Trent
 * Stone
 * Trentham Gardens
 * Uttoxeter
 * Wolverhampton

Twin towns

Stafford is twinned with:

title: Stafford


text:
Wikipedia talk:Wikipedians by number of edits (July 2003)

Should this article be Wikipedians by number of edits by month instead? -- Ram-Man 22:41, Aug 13, 2003 (UTC)

 * I like this page! It gives a clearer view of who is currently active, rather than mixing up people who have been active at different stages of Wikipedia's history. Thanks for making it. So are we getting a new page every month? If so, I expect that Wikipedians by number of edits by month would be the index page for them, and then the individual monthly pages would be at... oh, I don't know. This is the debate on what to call the pages for the annual presidential elections all over again, and I'm not sure we ever came to a consensus on that... -- Oliver P. 15:36, 16 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * I think I'll just make individual articles each month until someone decides what to do with it. I kind of like the idea of keeping all of the different ones around so we can compare months. -- Ram-Man 16:54, Aug 16, 2003 (UTC)

 * Yes, that is easier than having one page, with older months in the page history. So the month must be in the title, Wikipedians by number of edits in July 2003 is perhaps better, to avoid ambiguity (Wikipedia talk:Wikipedians by number of edits (July 2003) could mean up to). - Patrick 21:08, 22 Sep 2003 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Oleo

Oleo is a term for oils. It is commonly used to refer to a variety of things:

 * Colloquial term for margarine, a.k.a. oleomargarine
 * Oleic acid
 * Oleo strut, a type of shock absorbers on aircraft landing gear
 * "Oleo" (composition), a musical composition by Sonny Rollins
 * Oleo (Grant Green album), a 1962 album featuring the above composition
 * Oleo (Lee Konitz album), a 1975 album featuring the above composition
 * Oleo (Joe McPhee album), a 1983 album featuring the above composition
 * Oleo (New York Unit album), a 1989 album featuring the above composition
 * Óleo, a city in the São Paulo state in Brazil
 * GNU Oleo, a (defunct) spreadsheet program
 * Oleo drop, a kind of theater curtain

title: Oleo


text:
Conformal geometry

In mathematics, conformal geometry is the study of the set of angle-preserving (conformal) transformations on a space.

In a real two dimensional space, conformal geometry is precisely the geometry of Riemann surfaces. In space higher than two dimensions, conformal geometry may refer either to the study of conformal transformations of what are called "flat spaces" (such as Euclidean spaces or spheres), or to the study of conformal manifolds which are Riemannian or pseudo-Riemannian manifolds with a class of metrics that are defined up to scale. Study of the flat structures is sometimes termed Möbius geometry, and is a type of Klein geometry.

Conformal manifolds
A conformal manifold is a pseudo-Riemannian manifold equipped with an equivalence class of metric tensors, in which two metrics g and h are equivalent if and only if

 * $$h = \lambda^2 g ,$$

where λ is a real-valued smooth function defined on the manifold and is called the conformal factor. An equivalence class of such metrics is known as a conformal metric or conformal class. Thus, a conformal metric may be regarded as a metric that is only defined "up to scale". Often conformal metrics are treated by selecting a metric in the conformal class, and applying only "conformally invariant" constructions to the chosen metric.

A conformal metric is conformally flat if there is a metric representing it that is flat, in the usual sense that the Riemann curvature tensor vanishes. It may only be possible to find a metric in the conformal class that is flat in an open neighborhood of each point. When it is necessary to distinguish these cases, the latter is called locally conformally flat, although often in the literature no distinction is maintained. The n-sphere is a locally conformally flat manifold that is not globally conformally flat in this sense, whereas a Euclidean space, a torus, or any conformal manifold that is covered by an open subset of Euclidean space is (globally) conformally flat in this sense. A locally conformally flat manifold is locally conformal to a Möbius geometry, meaning that there exists an angle preserving local diffeomorphism from the manifold into a Möbius geometry. In two dimensions, every conformal metric is locally conformally flat. In dimension n > 3 a conformal metric is locally conformally flat if and only if its Weyl tensor vanishes; in dimension n = 3, if and only if the Cotton tensor vanishes.

Conformal geometry has a number of features which distinguish it from (pseudo-)Riemannian geometry. The first is that although in (pseudo-)Riemannian geometry one has a well-defined metric at each point, in conformal geometry one only has a class of metrics. Thus the length of a tangent vector cannot be defined, but the angle between two vectors still can. Another feature is that there is no Levi-Civita connection because if g and λ2g are two representatives of the conformal structure, then the Christoffel symbols of g and λ2g would not agree. Those associated with λ2g would involve derivatives of the function λ whereas those associated with g would not.

Despite these differences, conformal geometry is still tractable. The Levi-Civita connection and curvature tensor, although only being defined once a particular representative of the conformal structure has been singled out, do satisfy certain transformation laws involving the λ and its derivatives when a different representative is chosen. In particular, (in dimension higher than 3) the Weyl tensor turns out not to depend on λ, and so it is a conformal invariant. Moreover, even though there is no Levi-Civita connection on a conformal manifold, one can instead work with a conformal connection, which can be handled either as a type of Cartan connection modelled on the associated Möbius geometry, or as a Weyl connection. This allows one to define conformal curvature and other invariants of the conformal structure.

Möbius geometry
Möbius geometry is the study of "Euclidean space with a point added at infinity", or a "Minkowski (or pseudo-Euclidean) space with a null cone added at infinity". That is, the setting is a compactification of a familiar space; the geometry is concerned with the implications of preserving angles.

At an abstract level, the Euclidean and pseudo-Euclidean spaces can be handled in much the same way, except in the case of dimension two. The compactified two-dimensional Minkowski plane exhibits extensive conformal symmetry. Formally, its group of conformal transformations is infinite-dimensional. By contrast, the group of conformal transformations of the compactified Euclidean plane is only 6-dimensional.

Minkowski plane
The conformal group for the Minkowski quadratic form q(x, y) = 2xy in the plane is the abelian Lie group

 * $$ \operatorname{CSO}(1,1) = \left\{ \left. \begin{pmatrix}

e^a&0\\ 0&e^b \end{pmatrix} \right| a, b \in \mathbb{R} \right\} ,$$

with Lie algebra cso(1, 1) consisting of all real diagonal 2 × 2 matrices.

Consider now the Minkowski plane, $$\mathbb{R}^2$$ equipped with the metric
 * $$ g = 2 \, dx \, dy ~ .$$

A 1-parameter group of conformal transformations gives rise to a vector field X with the property that the Lie derivative of g along X is proportional to g. Symbolically,
 * $L_{X} g = λg$   for some λ.

In particular, using the above description of the Lie algebra cso(1, 1), this implies that for some real-valued functions a and b depending, respectively, on x and y.
 * 1)  LX  dx = a(x) dx
 * 2)  LX  dy = b(y) dy

Conversely, given any such pair of real-valued functions, there exists a vector field X satisfying 1. and 2. Hence the Lie algebra of infinitesimal symmetries of the conformal structure, the Witt algebra, is infinite-dimensional.

The conformal compactification of the Minkowski plane is a Cartesian product of two circles S1 × S1. On the universal cover, there is no obstruction to integrating the infinitesimal symmetries, and so the group of conformal transformations is the infinite-dimensional Lie group
 * $$(\mathbb{Z}\rtimes\mathrm{Diff}(S^1))\times(\mathbb{Z}\rtimes\mathrm{Diff}(S^1)) ,$$

where Diff(S1) is the diffeomorphism group of the circle.

The conformal group CSO(1, 1) and its Lie algebra are of current interest in two-dimensional conformal field theory.

Euclidean space
The group of conformal symmetries of the quadratic form

 * $$q(z,\bar{z}) = z\bar{z} $$

is the group GL1(C) = C×, the multiplicative group of the complex numbers. Its Lie algebra is gl1(C) = C.

Consider the (Euclidean) complex plane equipped with the metric

 * $$g = dz \, d\bar{z}.$$

The infinitesimal conformal symmetries satisfy where f satisfies the Cauchy–Riemann equation, and so is holomorphic over its domain. (See Witt algebra.)
 * 1) $$\mathbf{L}_X \, dz = f(z) \, dz$$
 * 2) $$\mathbf{L}_X \, d\bar{z} = f(\bar{z}) \, d\bar{z} ,$$

The conformal isometries of a domain therefore consist of holomorphic self-maps. In particular, on the conformal compactification – the Riemann sphere – the conformal transformations are given by the Möbius transformations

 * $$z \mapsto \frac{az+b}{cz+d}$$

where ad − bc is nonzero.

Higher dimensions
In two dimensions, the group of conformal automorphisms of a space can be quite large (as in the case of Lorentzian signature) or variable (as with the case of Euclidean signature). The comparative lack of rigidity of the two-dimensional case with that of higher dimensions owes to the analytical fact that the asymptotic developments of the infinitesimal automorphisms of the structure are relatively unconstrained. In Lorentzian signature, the freedom is in a pair of real valued functions. In Euclidean, the freedom is in a single holomorphic function.

In the case of higher dimensions, the asymptotic developments of infinitesimal symmetries are at most quadratic polynomials. In particular, they form a finite-dimensional Lie algebra. The pointwise infinitesimal conformal symmetries of a manifold can be integrated precisely when the manifold is a certain model conformally flat space (up to taking universal covers and discrete group quotients).

The general theory of conformal geometry is similar, although with some differences, in the cases of Euclidean and pseudo-Euclidean signature. In either case, there are a number of ways of introducing the model space of conformally flat geometry. Unless otherwise clear from the context, this article treats the case of Euclidean conformal geometry with the understanding that it also applies, mutatis mutandis, to the pseudo-Euclidean situation.

The inversive model
The inversive model of conformal geometry consists of the group of local transformations on the Euclidean space En generated by inversion in spheres. By Liouville's theorem, any angle-preserving local (conformal) transformation is of this form. From this perspective, the transformation properties of flat conformal space are those of inversive geometry.

The projective model
The projective model identifies the conformal sphere with a certain quadric in a projective space. Let q denote the Lorentzian quadratic form on Rn+2 defined by

 * $$q(x_0,x_1,\ldots,x_{n+1}) = -2x_0x_{n+1}+x_1^2+x_2^2+\cdots+x_n^2.$$

In the projective space P(Rn+2), let S be the locus of q = 0. Then S is the projective (or Möbius) model of conformal geometry. A conformal transformation on S is a projective linear transformation of P(Rn+2) that leaves the quadric invariant.

In a related construction, the quadric S is thought of as the celestial sphere at infinity of the null cone in the Minkowski space Rn+1,1, which is equipped with the quadratic form q as above. The null cone is defined by

 * $$ N = \left\{ ( x_0, \ldots , x_{n+1} ) \mid -2 x_0 x_{n+1} + x_1^2 + \cdots + x_n^2 = 0 \right\} .$$

This is the affine cone over the projective quadric S. Let N+ be the future part of the null cone (with the origin deleted). Then the tautological projection Rn+1,1 \ {0} → P(Rn+2) restricts to a projection N+ → S. This gives N+ the structure of a line bundle over S. Conformal transformations on S are induced by the orthochronous Lorentz transformations of Rn+1,1, since these are homogeneous linear transformations preserving the future null cone.

The Euclidean sphere
Intuitively, the conformally flat geometry of a sphere is less rigid than the Riemannian geometry of a sphere. Conformal symmetries of a sphere are generated by the inversion in all of its hyperspheres. On the other hand, Riemannian isometries of a sphere are generated by inversions in geodesic hyperspheres (see the Cartan–Dieudonné theorem.) The Euclidean sphere can be mapped to the conformal sphere in a canonical manner, but not vice versa.

The Euclidean unit sphere is the locus in Rn+1

 * $$z^2+x_1^2+x_2^2+\cdots+x_n^2=1.$$

This can be mapped to the Minkowski space Rn+1,1 by letting

 * $$x_0 = \frac{z+1}{\sqrt{2}},\, x_1=x_1,\, \ldots,\, x_n=x_n,\, x_{n+1}=\frac{z-1}{\sqrt{2}}.$$

It is readily seen that the image of the sphere under this transformation is null in the Minkowski space, and so it lies on the cone N+. Consequently, it determines a cross-section of the line bundle N+ → S.

Nevertheless, there was an arbitrary choice. If κ(x) is any positive function of x = (z, x0, ..., xn), then the assignment

 * $$x_0 = \frac{z+1}{\kappa(x)\sqrt{2}}, \, x_1=x_1,\, \ldots,\, x_n=x_n,\, x_{n+1}=\frac{(z-1)\kappa(x)}{\sqrt{2}}$$

also gives a mapping into N+. The function κ is an arbitrary choice of conformal scale.

Representative metrics
A representative Riemannian metric on the sphere is a metric which is proportional to the standard sphere metric. This gives a realization of the sphere as a conformal manifold. The standard sphere metric is the restriction of the Euclidean metric on Rn+1

 * $$g=dz^2+dx_1^2+dx_2^2+\cdots+dx_n^2$$

to the sphere

 * $$z^2+x_1^2+x_2^2+\cdots+x_n^2=1.$$

A conformal representative of g is a metric of the form λ2g, where λ is a positive function on the sphere. The conformal class of g, denoted [g], is the collection of all such representatives:

 * $$ [ g ] = \left\{ \lambda ^2 g \mid \lambda > 0 \right\} .$$

An embedding of the Euclidean sphere into N+, as in the previous section, determines a conformal scale on S. Conversely, any conformal scale on S is given by such an embedding. Thus the line bundle N+ → S is identified with the bundle of conformal scales on S: to give a section of this bundle is tantamount to specifying a metric in the conformal class [g].

Ambient metric model
Another way to realize the representative metrics is through a special coordinate system on Rn+1, 1. Suppose that the Euclidean n-sphere S carries a stereographic coordinate system. This consists of the following map of Rn → S ⊂ Rn+1:

 * $$ \mathbf{y} \in \mathbf{R} ^n \mapsto \left( \frac{ 2 \mathbf{y} }{ \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 + 1 }, \frac{ \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 - 1 }{ \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 + 1 } \right) \in S \sub \mathbf{R} ^{n+1} .$$

In terms of these stereographic coordinates, it is possible to give a coordinate system on the null cone N+ in Minkowski space. Using the embedding given above, the representative metric section of the null cone is

 * $$ x_0 = \sqrt{2} \frac{ \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 }{ 1 + \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 }, x_i = \frac{ y_i }{ \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 + 1 } , x _{n+1} = \sqrt{2} \frac{1}{ \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 + 1 } .$$

Introduce a new variable t corresponding to dilations up N+, so that the null cone is coordinatized by

 * $$x_0 = t \sqrt{2} \frac{ \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2}{ 1 + \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 }, x_i = t \frac{y_i}{ \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 + 1}, x_{n+1} = t \sqrt{2} \frac{1}{ \left| \mathbf{y} \right| ^2 + 1 } .$$

Finally, let ρ be the following defining function of N+:

 * $$ \rho = \frac{ - 2 x _0 x _{n+1} + x _1^2 + x _2^2 + \cdots + x _n^2 }{ t ^2 } .$$

In the t, ρ, y coordinates on Rn+1,1, the Minkowski metric takes the form:

 * $$ t ^2 g _{ij} ( y ) \, dy ^i \, dy ^j + 2 \rho \, dt ^2 + 2 t \, dt \, d \rho, $$

where gij is the metric on the sphere.

In these terms, a section of the bundle N+ consists of a specification of the value of the variable t = t(yi) as a function of the yi along the null cone ρ = 0. This yields the following representative of the conformal metric on S:

 * $$ t ( y ) ^2 g _{ij} \, d y ^i \, d y ^j .$$

The Kleinian model
Consider first the case of the flat conformal geometry in Euclidean signature. The n-dimensional model is the celestial sphere of the (n + 2)-dimensional Lorentzian space Rn+1,1. Here the model is a Klein geometry: a homogeneous space G/H where G = SO(n + 1, 1) acting on the (n + 2)-dimensional Lorentzian space Rn+1,1 and H is the isotropy group of a fixed null ray in the light cone. Thus the conformally flat models are the spaces of inversive geometry. For pseudo-Euclidean of metric signature (p, q), the model flat geometry is defined analogously as the homogeneous space O(p + 1, q + 1)/H, where H is again taken as the stabilizer of a null line. Note that both the Euclidean and pseudo-Euclidean model spaces are compact.

The conformal Lie algebras
To describe the groups and algebras involved in the flat model space, fix the following form on Rp+1,q+1:

Q=\begin{pmatrix} 0&0&-1\\ 0&J&0\\ -1&0&0 \end{pmatrix} $$ where J is a quadratic form of signature (p, q). Then G = O(p + 1, q + 1) consists of (n + 2) × (n + 2) matrices stabilizing Q : tMQM = Q. The Lie algebra admits a Cartan decomposition

 * $$\mathbf{g}=\mathbf{g}_{-1}\oplus\mathbf{g}_0\oplus\mathbf{g}_1$$

where

\mathbf{g}_{-1} = \left\{\left. \begin{pmatrix} 0&^tp&0\\ 0&0&J^{-1}p\\ 0&0&0 \end{pmatrix}\right| p\in\mathbb{R}^n\right\},\quad \mathbf{g}_{-1} = \left\{\left. \begin{pmatrix} 0&0&0\\ ^tq&0&0\\ 0&qJ^{-1}&0 \end{pmatrix}\right| q\in(\mathbb{R}^n)^*\right\} $$

\mathbf{g}_0 = \left\{\left. \begin{pmatrix} -a & 0 & 0\\ 0 & A & 0\\ 0 & 0 & a \end{pmatrix} \right| A \in \mathfrak{so} ( p, q ) , a \in \mathbb{R} \right\} .$$

Alternatively, this decomposition agrees with a natural Lie algebra structure defined on Rn ⊕ cso(p, q) ⊕ (Rn)∗.

The stabilizer of the null ray pointing up the last coordinate vector is given by the Borel subalgebra

 * h = g0 ⊕ g1.

title: Conformal geometry


text:
Zero tolerance

A zero tolerance policy is one which imposes a punishment for every infraction of a stated rule. Zero tolerance policies forbid people in positions of authority from exercising discretion or changing punishments to fit the circumstances subjectively; they are required to impose a predetermined punishment regardless of individual culpability, extenuating circumstances, or history. This predetermined punishment, whether mild or severe, is always meted out.

Zero tolerance policies are studied in criminology and are common in both formal and informal policing systems around the world. The policies also appear in informal situations where there may be sexual harassment or Internet misuse in educational and workplace environments. In 2014, the mass incarceration in the United States based upon low-level offenses has resulted in an outcry on the use of zero tolerance in schools and communities.

Little evidence supports the claimed effectiveness of zero tolerance policies. One underlying problem is that there are a great many reasons why people hesitate to intervene, or to report behavior they find to be unacceptable or unlawful. Zero tolerance policies address, at best, only a few of these reasons.

Etymology
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the first recorded use of the term "zero tolerance" was in 1972 and was originally used in US politics.

However, the term appears as early as 1939 in reference to plant diseases ("While a zero tolerance may seem a severe penalty ..."), in 1942 in reference to optical equipment ("They cut and polish glass precisely to 'zero tolerance,' ..."), and in 1945 in reference to poultry diseases ("Your safety is in buying chicks hatched from breeders showing zero tolerance."). It also appeared in the mid-1960s, in reference to an absolute ban on the pesticide heptachlor by the US Food and Drug Administration. For example, an article that appeared in the June 1963 issue of Popular Mechanics stated "Heptachlor, though, is even more toxic and has been given a 'zero tolerance' by the FDA; that is, not even the slightest trace of heptachlor is permitted on food."

History
The idea behind zero tolerance policies can be traced back to the Safe and Clean Neighborhoods Act, which was approved in New Jersey in 1973 and had the same underlying assumptions. The ideas behind the 1973 New Jersey policy were later popularized in 1982, when a US cultural magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, published an article by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling about the broken windows theory of crime. Their name for the idea comes from the following example: "Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.

Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants."

According to scholars, zero tolerance is the concept of giving carte blanche to the police for the inflexible repression of minor offenses, homeless people, and the disorders associated with them. A well-known criticism to this approach is that it redefines social problems in terms of security, it considers the poor as criminals, and it reduces crimes to only "street crimes," those committed by lower social classes and excludes white-collar crimes.

On the historical examples of the application of zero tolerance kind of policies, nearly all the scientific studies conclude that it failed to play the leading role in the reduction of crimes that is claimed by its advocates. On the other hand, large majorities of people who are living in communities in which zero tolerance policing has been followed believe that it has actually played a key, leading role in reducing crime in their communities. It has been alleged that in New York City, the decline of the crime rate had started well before Rudy Giuliani came to power in 1993. None of the decreasing processes had any particular inflection under him, and during the same period, the decrease in crime was the same in the other major US cities, even those with an opposite security policy. However, the experience of the vast majority of New Yorkers led them to precisely the opposite conclusion and allowed a Republican to win and retain the Mayor's office for the first time in decades, in large part because of the perception that zero tolerance policing was playing key to the city's improving crime situation. On the other hand, some argue that in 1984-1987, the city had already experienced a policy similar to Giuliani's but instead faced an increase in the crime rate.

Two American specialists, Edward Maguire, a professor at American University, and John Eck from the University of Cincinnati, rigorously evaluated all the scientific work designed to test the effectiveness of the police in the fight against crime. They concluded that "neither the number of policemen engaged in the battle, or internal changes and organizational culture of law enforcement agencies (such as the introduction of community policing) have by themselves any impact on the evolution of offenses." They argue that the crime decrease was caused by not the work of the police and the judiciary but economic and demographic factors: mainly an unprecedented economic growth with jobs for millions of young people and a shift from the use of crack towards other drugs.

An alternative argument comes from Kelling and William Bratton, Giuliani's original police chief, who argue that broken windows policing methods contributed to the decrease in crime but they were not a form of zero tolerance: "Critics use the term 'zero tolerance' in a pejorative sense to suggest that Broken Windows policing is a form of zealotry—the imposition of rigid, moralistic standards of behavior on diverse populations. It is not. Broken Windows is a highly discretionary police activity that requires careful training, guidelines, and supervision, as well as an ongoing dialogue with neighborhoods and communities to ensure that it is properly conducted"

Sheldon Wein has set out a list of six characteristics of a zero tolerance policy:
 * 1) Full enforcement (all those for whom there is adequate evidence that they have violated the rule are to be identified)
 * 2) Lack of prosecutorial discretion (for every plausibly accused person, it is determined whether the person has in fact violated the policy)
 * 3) Strict constructivist interpretation (no room for narrow interpretation of the rule)
 * 4) Strict liability (no excuses or justifications)
 * 5) Mandatory punishment (not under a mandatory minimum penalty)
 * 6) Harsh punishment (mandatory minimum penalty is considered relatively harsh given the nature of the crime).

Wein sees those points as representing "focal meaning" of the concept. Not all must met literally, but any policy that clearly meets all six of those conditions would definitely be seen as a case of a zero tolerance policy.

Bullying in the workplace
Various institutions have undertaken zero tolerance policies such as in the military, in the workplace, and in schools in an effort to propagate the persecution of behavior deemed socially disordered or unacceptable. Proponents hope that such policies will underscore the commitment of administrators to prevent such behavior. Others raise a concern about that use of zero tolerance policies, a concern that derives from an analysis of errors of omission and errors of commission.

The reasoning is that failure to proscribe unacceptable behavior may lead to errors of omission, and too little will be done. However, zero tolerance may be seen as a kind of ruthless management, which may lead to a perception of "too much being done." If people fear that their co-workers or fellow students may be fired, terminated, or expelled, they may not come forward at all when they see behavior deemed unacceptable. (That is a classic example of Type I and type II errors.) Thus, a too stringent policy may actually reduce reports of illegal behavior.

Narcotics
In the United States zero tolerance, an approach against drugs, was originally designed as a part of the War on Drugs under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush ostensibly to curb the transfer of drugs at the borders. Law enforcement was to target the drug users, rather than the transporters or suppliers, under the assumption that harsh sentences and strict enforcement of personal use would reduce demand and strike at root cause of the drug problem. The policy did not require additional laws; existing law was instead enacted with less leniency. Similar concepts in other countries, such as Sweden, Italy, Japan, Singapore China, India, and Russia have since been labeled zero tolerance.

A consistence of zero tolerance is the absolute dichotomy between the legality of any use and no use and the equating all illicit drugs and any form of use as undesirable and harmful to society. That contrasts the views of those who stress the disparity in harmfulness among drugs and would like to distinguish between occasional drug use and problem drug use. Although some harm reductionists also see drug use as generally undesirable, they hold that the resources would do more good if they were allocated toward helping problem drug users, instead of combating all drug users. For example, research from Switzerland indicates that emphasis on problem drug users "seems to have contributed to the image of heroin as unattractive for young people."

More generally, zero tolerance advocates holds the aim at ridding the society of all illicit drug use and that criminal justice has an important role in that endeavor. The Swedish Parliament, for example set the vision a drug-free society as the official goal for the country's drug policy in 1978. The visions were to prompt new practices inspired by Nils Bejerot that were later called "zero tolerance." In 1980, the Swedish Minister of Justice dropped its practice of giving waivers for possession of drugs for personal use after years of its lowering of thresholds. The same year, police began to prioritize drug users and street-level drug crimes over drug distributors. In 1988, all non-medicinally prescribed usage became illegal, and in 1993, the enforcement of personal use was eased by permitting the police to take blood or urine samples from suspects. The unrelenting approach towards drug users, together with generous treatment opportunities, has received the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's approval and is cited by the United Nations as one of the main reasons for Sweden's relatively-low drug prevalence rates. However, that interpretation of the statistics and the more general success of Sweden's drug policies are disputed.

Driving
The term is used in the context of drunk driving to refer to a lower illegal blood alcohol content for drivers under the age of 21. The legal limit in almost all US states is 0.08%. Utah is the exception, at 0.05%. For drivers under 21, the prohibited level in 16 states is 0.01% or 0.02%, which is also true in Puerto Rico, a US territory, despite its drinking age of 18.

Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, and Sweden have zero tolerance laws for drugs and driving in Europe, as opposed to the other main legal approach in which laws forbidding impaired driving are enacted instead. Legislation varies in different countries that practice zero tolerance on drug use for drivers. Only a limited set of (common) drugs is included in the zero tolerance legislation in Germany and Belgium. However, in Finland and Sweden, all controlled substances fall into the scope of zero tolerance unless they are covered by a prescription.

In Argentina, the Cordoba State Highway Patrol enforces a zero tolerance policy.

In Asia, Japan also practices zero tolerance. People receive a fine and can be fired even the next morning if there are still traces of alcohol. Foreigners may even be deported.

In schools
Zero tolerance policies have been adopted in schools and other education venues around the world. The policies are usually promoted as preventing drug abuse, violence, and gang activity in schools. Common zero tolerance policies concern possession or use of recreational drugs or weapons. Students and sometimes staff, parents, and other visitors who possess a banned item or perform any prohibited action for any reason are automatically punished. School administrators are barred from using their judgment, reducing severe punishments to be proportional to minor offenses, or considering extenuating circumstances. For example, the policies treat possession of a knife identically, regardless of whether the knife is a blunt table knife being used to eat a meal, a craft knife used in an art class, or a switchblade with no reasonable practical or educational value. Such policies are thus sometimes derided as "zero intelligence policies."

There is no credible evidence that zero tolerance reduces violence or drug abuse by students.

The unintended negative consequences are clearly documented and sometimes severe: school suspension and expulsion result in a number of negative outcomes for both schools and students. Although the policies are facially neutral, minority children are the most likely to suffer the negative consequences of zero tolerance.

The policies have also resulted in embarrassing publicity for schools. Also, they have been struck down by the courts and by Departments of Education and weakened by legislatures.

Criticism
Some critics have argued that zero tolerance policing violates the Law Enforcement Code of Conduct passed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The code requires that police behave in a courteous and fair manner, treat all citizens in a respectable and decent manner, and never use unnecessary force. Criminologist Matthew Barnett Robinson criticized the practice: "Zero-tolerance policing runs counter to community policing and logical crime prevention efforts. To whatever degree street sweeps are viewed by citizens as brutal, suspect, militaristic, or the biased efforts of 'outsiders,' citizens will be discouraged from taking active roles in community building activities and crime prevention initiatives in conjunction with the police. Perhaps this is why the communities that most need neighborhood watch programs are least likely to be populated by residents who take active roles in them."

Critics say that zero tolerance policing fails because it destroys several important requisites for successful community policing: police accountability, openness to the public, and community cooperation (Cox and Wade 1998: 106).

Zero tolerance violates principles of health and human services and standards for the education and healthy growth of children, families and communities. Even traditional community service providers in the 1970s aimed for "services for all" (such as zero reject), instead of 100% societal exclusion (zero tolerance). Public administration and disability has supported principles that include education, employment, housing, transportation, recreation, and political participation in the community. which zero tolerance groups claim are not a right in the US.

Opponents of zero tolerance believe that such a policy neglects investigation on a case-by-case basis and may lead to unreasonably harsh penalties for crimes that may not warrant such penalties in reality. Another criticism of zero tolerance policies is that it gives officers and the legal system little discretion in dealing with offenders. Zero tolerance policies may prohibit their enforcers from making the punishment fit the crime.

Fixed sentencing guidelines may incite offenders to commit more serious crimes because they know their punishment will be the same no matter the degree of their actions. That phenomenon of human nature is described in an adage that dates back to at least the 17th century, "might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb". Until 1820, the English law prescribed hanging for stealing anything worth more than one shilling, whether it was a low-value lamb or a whole flock of sheep.

In the kids for cash scandal, Judge Mark Ciavarella, who promoted a platform of zero tolerance, received kickbacks for constructing a private prison that housed juvenile offenders and then proceeded to fill the prison by sentencing children to extended stays in juvenile detention for offenses as minimal as mocking a principal on Myspace, scuffles in hallways, trespassing in a vacant building, and shoplifting DVDs from Walmart. Critics of zero tolerance policies argue that harsh punishments for minor offences are normalized. The documentary Kids for Cash interviews experts on adolescent behaviour who argue that the zero tolerance model has become a dominant approach to policing juvenile offences after the Columbine shooting.

Recently, argumentation theorists (especially Sheldon Wein) have suggested that, frequently, when people advocate adopting a zero tolerance policy, they commit what he has called the "zero tolerance fallacy". Subsequently, Wein has proposed standards which arguments for zero tolerance policies must meet in order to avoid such fallacious inferences.

title: Zero tolerance


text:
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967

The United Kingdom held a national pre-selection to choose the song that would go to the Eurovision Song Contest 1967. It was held on 25 February 1967 and presented by Rolf Harris. Harris's weekly show had been the showcase for the five songs in the competition, which had been performed in successive weeks prior to the final. Harris himself would be the BBC's commentator for the final in Vienna.

The internal BBC selection of Sandie Shaw as the singer was something of a departure; in recognition of changing trends in the contest, she was arguably the first real "pop" star to be chosen as the UK representative. Shaw and her manager Eve Taylor were permitted to select one of the finalists, submitting "Had a Dream Last Night", written by her regular songwriter and producer Chris Andrews, who had previously had a song in the 1965 UK final, "One Day", performed by Kathy Kirby. Shaw had recorded a version of that track herself. Viewers voted on postcards via mail to decide the winner and the chosen song was "Puppet on a String". After placing second five times, the UK finally won Eurovision 10 years after the nation's first entry performed by Patricia Bredin in 1957.

Shaw released all five songs from the contest, with the winner featuring the runner up on the B-side of a single that reached No.1 in the single chart for three weeks and selling in excess of 4,000,000 copies worldwide. Some estimates make this the biggest selling single globally by a British female artist. In Germany it sold in excess of 1,000,000 copies and was the biggest selling single of the year. Shaw also released an extended play maxi single featuring four of the five finalists, excluding the winner. This EP titled Tell The Boys, reached No.4 in the EP chart top 10. Shaw later recorded all five songs in Spanish, Italian, French and German. Eventually, all the various recordings of all five songs became available on various CD compilations.

Voting
Every country had a jury of ten people. Every jury member could give one point to his or her favourite song.


text:
Carl Hilty

Carl Andreas Hilty (28 February 1833 – 12 October 1909) was a Swiss lawyer, professor of constitutional law, politician, philosopher, lay theologian and writer.

Family background, education and early career
Hilty was born in the small town of Werdenberg in the canton of St. Gallen in northeastern Switzerland. His father was the physician Johann Ulrich Hilty, who practised medicine in Chur, the capital of the eastern canton of the Grisons. His family had been based in Werdenberg for centuries and in 1835 he bought the crumbling Werdenberg Castle at an auction. Carl Hilty's mother Elisabeth (née Kilias) hailed from Chur and was the daughter of a former regimental doctor of the French Army. She died already in 1847.

Carl Hilty grew up in Chur, where he first attended the public primary school and then the canton school of the Swiss Reformed Church.

From 1851 until 1853 Hilty studied jurisprudence in Germany at the University of Göttingen. In 1854 he acquired his doctorate of both laws at Heidelberg University. He subsequently spent some time in London and Paris in order to improve his language skills.

From 1855 onwards he was the director of a law firm in Chur for almost two decades. As a non-citizen of the Grisons he soon emerged as a prominent proponent of direct democracy.

In 1857, after an engagement period of just a few months, Hilty married Johanna Gaertner, who hailed from a family of legal scholars in Prussia. Her father Gustav, who already died in 1842, was a professor of law at the University of Bonn. Her mother Marie Simon, who was born in Breslau as the daughter of a judge and one-time chairman of the Prussian examination board of jurists, had written and published a political novel about the German revolutions of 1848–1849. Like her brother Heinrich Simon, who had been a prominent member of the Frankfurt Parliament, she apparently had to escape anti-democratic and anti-liberal repressions in the reactionary era that followed the subdued revolutions and joined him in his Swiss exile. Johanna's god-father was the nationalist and pro-democracy writer Ernst Moritz Arndt, who had been a member of the Frankfurt Parliament as well.

Hilty's sister Anna was married to the jurist and brigadier Hand Hold, one of the leading Grisonian liberals during the second half of the 19th century.

Public career in the Army, Academia, and Parliament
In 1862, Hilty joined the legal staff of the Swiss Armed Forces in addition to his work in his law firm.

In 1872, he also became a member of the Great City Council of Chur.

In 1874, he became a professor of constitutional law at the University of Bern.

Hilty was a spokesman for women's rights to vote and to be elected, several decades before the subject became mainstream. Hilty argued that Switzerland, as a nation-state comprising several nationalities and languages, had a unique mission of demonstrating that a nation-state could transcend tribal tendencies.

In 1890, he became a member of the National Council.

«Happiness» and «Political Yearbooks»
From 1886, he edited Politisches Jahrbuch der schweizerischen Eidgenossenschaft (The Journal of Swiss Jurisprudence)

Hilty's philosophical concern was practical in nature. He wrote about happiness, the meaning of life and work, developing good habits, time management, and winning the battles of life. He became famous from his writings about happiness, which first appeared in three volumes in 1891, 1895 and 1899. These essays were eventually collected into a single volume entitled: "Happiness: Essays on the Meaning of Life". In this work, Hilty combines ancient stoic thought with Christian beliefs. The work was translated into English by Prof. Francis Greenwood Peabody, Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University, and first appeared in the United States in 1903.

Hilty supported the Salvation Army, which opened their services in Zurich. At first he made jokes about their noisy appearance, but only a few years later, he recognized them as one of the few groups who were able to put the words of Jesus in practice. Hilty was in his time one of the few intellectuals who still believed in the Gospel, while many other intellectuals dedicated themselves to the so-called "monastic" philosophy following the new sciences after Darwin. He believed in a new reformation beyond the dogmas of churches and politics, after the time of materialism.

He famously said: "Peace is only a hair's breadth away from war." Although a Christian, he was not a pacifist, and expected the coming world war.

Final years
His wife Johanna died in 1897. Hilty died in Clarens in 1909.

Legacy
Hilty's work influenced the thinking of William James.

Books
Academic:
 * Theoretiker und Idealisten der Demokratie (Theorists and Idealists of Democracy), Bern, 1868
 * Ideen und Ideale schweizerischer Politik (Ideas and Ideals of Swiss Politics), Bern, 1875
 * Vorlesungen über die Politik der Eidgenossenschaft (Lectures on the Swiss Political System), Bern, 1879
 * Ueber die Wiedereinfuhrung der Todesstrafe (On Capital Punishment), Bern, 1879
 * Die Neutralität der Schweiz in ihrer heutigen Auffassung (The Neutrality of Switzerland), Bern, 1889
 * (translated into French by Mentha, 1889)

 * Das Referendum im schweizerischen Staatsrecht (The Referendum in Switzerland), Archiv für öffentliches Recht, 1887
 * Der Burenkrieg (The Boer War), Bern, 1900.

Personal:
 * Glück (Happiness ), 1891, (translated into Dutch by Eduard Fimmen, 1903).
 * Lesen und Reden (On Reading and Speaking), 1891
 * Für schlaflose Nächte (For Sleepless Nights), 1901.

title: Carl Hilty


text:
Talk:Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565

In film section
The "In film" section has become unbalanced; it does no longer conform to the WP:BALASP policy while elaborating extensively on one film which is not particularly often mentioned in connection to this composition: other films of comparable bandwidth in reliable sources w.r.t. this composition currently have one or two sentences. --Francis Schonken (talk) 17:56, 4 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Copy-pasting references that has been copied from me is not permissible (see WP:IBAN). In these circumstances I will just add an addendum to WP:ORN to explain current disruption with the Morricone material. Mathsci (talk) 20:11, 4 November 2020 (UTC)
 * See WP:ORN. Mathsci (talk) 23:15, 4 November 2020 (UTC)

Morricone and ownership issues
One editor has spent about 3 weeks discussing Ennio Morricone on the talk page of BWV 543. Their edits there have not been helpful. Similarly, on the WP:NOR noticeboard, the same editor has launched into discussions about Morricone's work: so far, in his edits, he has not unearthed any useful sources.

While researching film material related to Bach and Morricone, however, I have found a huge amount of material related to BWV 565. I have only chosen a small sample. I have selected 4 sources and have used all four. I chose two diametrically opposite views; although one of the commentators disagrees with Morricone, they are old friends and have discussed their differences (see the Cambridge University Press book—the author died in 2016). There are many pages in these particular books on this area (i.e. art film music, a well-covered topic).

From this article, the section about "Reception" is not really about reception, but some kind of hodge-podge. In the case of the subsection entitled "In film", it is just part of what would normally be called "In popular culture." It seems to be a list of films, almost no explanatory prose to give context. Just a raw list.

What I have written here is prose on "Bach reception" for BWV 565 with regard to Morricone. Other articles on Bach organ works are not written as if they were some list (except of course for discographies and arrangements). The reversion that has happened is not acceptable: there must be a reasonable discussion and later a WP:CONSENSUS. The new source material (4 books) should be taken on board by other editors. Since WP:ORN has been invoked here, perhaps that would be a convenient way of involving a larger number of editors in Morricone-related discussions. Mathsci (talk) 19:03, 4 November 2020 (UTC)
 * The first statement about the claimed fame of the Toccata seems like a "peacock" statement and does not to be supported by the body of the article without very careful qualification.

 * The second statement concerns authenticity and the phrasing of the final sentence. The non-reporting of facts from the Bach Archive is a non-event, but the final sentence is presented as some kind as "proof" of authenticity. The commentary in the Breitkopf edition is more non-committal, giving pros and cons for authenticity. They err on the side of caution There is also the 2018 2nd edition of the book by Rolf Dietrich Claus on authenticity, translated into English, with additional commentary. Mathsci (talk) 19:34, 4 November 2020 (UTC)

Ringk manuscript - all pages
All pages of the Ringk manuscript have been added to the article. Please adjust as yall think might be best.

Another option is combining all pages into one single image, which was done here:

But I don't recommend using that. My own opinion is that showing the pages separately works better. Others might feel differently. I doubt that I will have anything more to add to such a discussion, so whatever is decided as consensus is fine with me. Even if that means removing all of the pages that I added, and reverting back to where only the title page and first page are shown. --Concord19 (talk) 03:42, 4 October 2022 (UTC)

 * Neato. I like the idea of all the pages, as this particular piece is debated as to authorship. Misty MH (talk) 12:15, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

The "trill" at the start - A curiosity—or more
It may be a curiosity, or more, but I was just reading a big argument over the "trill" – or "mordent", "tremolo(?)" or whatever – of the very first note in the piece (which is then repeated an octave lower, and then repeated an octave lower than that). (I'll get to some details shortly.) The article here makes no mention of a trill at all.

The Trill Controversy:

I remember in Music Theory in college some discussion of trills and their types, and how at different times and in different countries, they were played differently. There was a good deal of variation between centuries and locations around the world; and here we have someone putting an Italian name to what may have been the German composer Bach's piece. And it was being written down perhaps some time after Bach, and music practice may have changed.

Often, trills go up and then back to the starting note. But here, it goes down, and then up.

Arguers in that big argument (all talking about it going down and then back up) said it should go down a whole step and then back; while the original poster, claiming a Masters degree in piano, was showing it as a half step down and then back. They argued that it was common to do the whole step. Also: A typical way of sounding a trill is just three notes for the trill; but this one has a fermata over it:

Don't some trills go longer than 3 notes? In any case—

I wonder if there is some scholarly debate or consensus over this for this particular passage, especially discussing the whole- vs. half-step part?

I also wonder if there are any major examples of this particular trill going up then down vs. the versions I myself heard that went down and then up?

An interesting curiosity, it seemed; and it made me wonder if there was any controversy about it over the centuries? :)

Misty MH (talk) 12:14, 2 January 2023 (UTC)


text:
Chapter 13, Title 11, United States Code

Title 11 of the United States Code sets forth the statutes governing the various types of relief for bankruptcy in the United States. Chapter 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code provides an individual with the opportunity to propose a plan of reorganization to reorganize their financial affairs while under the bankruptcy court's protection. The purpose of chapter 13 is to enable an individual with a regular source of income to propose a chapter 13 plan that provides for their various classes of creditors. Under chapter 13, the Bankruptcy Court has the power to approve a chapter 13 plan without the approval of creditors as long as it meets the statutory requirements under chapter 13. Chapter 13 plans are usually three to five years in length and may not exceed five years. Chapter 13 is in contrast to the purpose of Chapter 7, which does not provide for a plan of reorganization, but provides for the discharge of certain debt and the liquidation of non-exempt property. A Chapter 13 plan may be looked at as a form of debt consolidation, but a Chapter 13 allows a person to achieve much more than simply consolidating his or her unsecured debt such as credit cards and personal loans. A chapter 13 plan may provide for the four general categories of debt: priority claims, secured claims, priority unsecured claims, and general unsecured claims. Chapter 13 plans are often used to cure arrearages on a mortgage, avoid "underwater" junior mortgages or other liens, pay back taxes over time, or partially repay general unsecured debt. In recent years, some bankruptcy courts have allowed Chapter 13 to be used as a platform to expedite a mortgage modification application.

Choice of chapter
An individual who is badly in debt can typically file for bankruptcy either under Chapter 7 (liquidation, or straight bankruptcy) or Chapter 13 (reorganization). In some cases, options may also include Chapter 12 (family farmer reorganization) and Chapter 11 (reorganization of a company, or an individual debtor whose debts exceed the limits for a Chapter 13 filing). As a Chapter 11 bankruptcy is considerably more complex and expensive than a Chapter 13 case, few debtors will choose Chapter 11 if a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is an option.

Debtors may also be forced into bankruptcy by creditors in the case of an involuntary bankruptcy, but only under Chapters 7 or 11. However, in most instances, the debtor may choose under which chapter to file. In the case of an involuntary bankruptcy, the debtor may also choose to convert from the forced Chapter 7 or 11 proceeding into a proceeding under another chapter.

The debtor's financial characteristics and the type of relief sought play a tremendous role in the choice of chapters. In some cases, the debtor simply cannot file under Chapter 13, as he or she lacks the disposable income necessary to fund a viable Chapter 13 plan (see below). Furthermore, Section 109(e) of Title 11, United States Code sets forth debt limits for individuals to be eligible to file under Chapter 13: unsecured debts of less than $419,275, and secured debts of less than $1,257,850.

Under Chapter 13, the debtor proposes a plan to pay his or her creditors over a 3-to-5 year period. This written plan details all of the transactions (and their durations) that will occur, and repayment according to the plan must begin within 30 to 45 days after the case has started. During this period, his or her creditors cannot attempt to collect on the individual's previously incurred debt except through the bankruptcy court. In general, the individual gets to keep their property, and his or her creditors end up with less money than they would have had the amount given to the debtor continued to collect interest, allowing the debtor to find a way to pay the amount owed without losing their assets.

Disadvantages
The disadvantage of filing for personal bankruptcy is that, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a record of this stays on the individual's credit report for up to 7 years (up to 10 years for Chapter 7); still, it is possible to obtain new debt or credit (cards, auto, or consumer loans) after only 12–24 months, and a new FHA mortgage loan just 25 months after discharge, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans after 36 months. However, during the pendency of a Chapter 13 case, the debtor is not permitted to obtain additional credit without the permission of the bankruptcy court. Moreover, creditors may not even be willing to risk lending money to such an individual, regardless of their legal ability to make a request. However, this disadvantage is not unique to Chapter 13; it may also apply to individuals currently in a Chapter 11 or Chapter 12 case or those who are in (or have recently been in) a Chapter 7 case.

Advantages
The advantages of Chapter 13 over Chapter 7 include the ability to stop foreclosures although a foreclosure would be reinstated upon completion of the bankruptcy; achieve a "super discharge" of debts not dischargeable under Chapter 7; "value collateral"; bifurcate the security interest of creditors in certain property that creditors are either charging too much interest for, or are over-secured, or both, and leading to a "cram down" modification of the debt; and prevent collection activities against non-filing co-signers ("co-debtors") during the life of the case.

Chapter 13 plan
A chapter 13 plan is a document filed with or shortly after a debtor's Chapter 13 bankruptcy petition.

The plan details the treatment of debts, liens, and the secured status of assets and liabilities owned or owed by the debtor in regard to his bankruptcy petition. In order for a plan to take effect, it must meet a number of requirements. These are specified in § 1325 and include:
 * providing that unsecured creditors will receive at least as much through the chapter 13 plan as they would in a chapter 7 liquidation
 * either not be objected to, repay all creditors in full, or commit all of the debtor's disposable income to the Chapter 13 plan for at least three years (or five years for a debtor who makes an above median income)