text:
Talk:History of Switzerland

Direct Democracy
Hi, I am new to Wikipedia and would like to make my first contribution. I have the following I would like to add to the Switzerland direct democracy. After reading some more here, I wonder though if this is a bit too much of an opinion. I just thought it might provide some food for thought. Let me know what you think and, of course, feel free to edit it.

Here is my text:

Whereas most modern democracies are increasingly plagued by a disgruntled and cynical citizenry, it strikes the astute foreigner in Switzerland with what committed seriousness, respect and sense of duty the Swiss partake in their own governance. Switzerland was considerably inspired by the American political system based on checks and balances, a strict separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers, a strong independent central bank directing monetary policy as well as a liberal Constitution guaranteeing broad rights to all people. Its exceptional openness to popular plebiscite, mixed with strong federalism, as described above, managed to, however, (so-far!) maintain a strong sense of faith among the people in the functioning and legitimacy of their governmental institutions. That the country has not slipped into the worst of populism which such an accessible legislative system, (despite some disturbing recent examples to the contrary originating from the extreme right and left of the political spectrum), can be best explained by history and culture.

The Swiss never had royalty and shrugged off their aristocratic heritage well before their European neighbors did. Much as Americans in the United States, they remained highly suspicious of any claim of hereditary lineage and privilege. This, in conjunction with the highly federalized system of governance where not just every Canton but every single County was responsible for its own budgets and expenses such as schools and social welfare, produced early on an environment highly conducive to the emancipation of the common folk and ingrained a concomitant sense of civic responsibility. The broad general admiration and respect that its increasingly successful mercantile classes commanded, combined with an almost instinctive mistrust that the Swiss (and this includes the otherwise more temperamental Latin French and Italian speaking inhabitants) have of emotional excesses, especially with respect to all matters economic and political, served until now to curtail any excessive “irrational exuberances” or “tyrannies of the majorities”. Whereas surrounding continental Europe transitioned from paternalistic monarchies to experimentations with fascist dictatorships or later various degrees of centralized socialism, Switzerland managed to, by and large, stay true to its tradition of liberalism.

This culture of civic responsibility combined with the century old experience of internal negotiation between the various religious and linguistic groups to create a culture based on consensus building. This is epitomized by the federal executive body comprising of 7 ministers who deliberate behind closed doors but present their decision to the country as a single body. Switzerland is deemed a “Willensnation”, German for a nation by the grace of the will of the people, as opposed to royal fiat, language, conquest or even a single culture. In order for such a nation-state to survive, continuous deliberation must be engaged in. This produced an unusual penchant for stability, the long-term and pragmatic, as opposed to the emotional, decision making process and with time created a polity that expects debate on virtually all matters. An exceptionally diverse and sophisticated media serves as the backbone of this system. Indeed, it can be argued that a direct democracy can only function well if its electorate invests considerable time and financial resources to remain well informed.

The creation of this system took centuries and is the consequence of the country’s unique history and the result of some past exceptional leadership such as those of Paul Usteri and Alfred Escher. Due to its inherent vulnerability, however, it may be readily disassembled. Indeed, it is questionable if the long-winded and time intensive political process can survive in our ever faster paced and complex world. Moreover, it is also questionable if the old federalist structure of the country continues to serve it well today. For example, the sparsely populated farming cantons wield inordinate political, and thus financial, clout on the federal level via the National Assembly. This results in often questionable infrastructure investments in rural areas and has created the world’s most subsidized and protected agricultural sector as based on percentage per GNP spent. Moreover, the ephemeral anxieties of citizens are increasingly exploited and mobilized by special interest groups via initiatives and referendums so as to often derail carefully crafted governmental legislation. It will be interesting to see whether the unique brand of democracy in Switzerland will be able to adapt to the challenges of the future. In the meantime, it is a worthy model to study for anyone interested in an exceptionally well-functioning direct democracy.

article structure
Can anyone write a non-linear history of Switzerland (maybe to complement)? If we refer to the Swiss say in 1315 (Morgarten), who were they, who were the others? Oh, and the Habsburgs, weren't they Swiss, too? What I mean is that for a long time 'Switzerland' wasn't as big as it is today and many battles were fought between what is Switzerland and oh, what is Switzerland now.... Kokiri

 * Geschichte_der_Schweiz is much better structured, and much more detailed. I will start to remodel this article after it. The problem is that in prehistoric to early medieval times, "History of Switzerland" amounts to the History of the territory of modern Switzerland. After 1291, the focus is contracted to the founding cantons (since the other territories belong to France and the Holy Roman Empire, and should be included in the histories of these), and slowly expanding again, until in 1815, the modern territory is again reached. This is not really a problem, but it has to be made clear from the article text. It's silly to start with 1291, though. Much can be said about Archaeology, the Helvetians vs. Caesar, the frankian cities in the early middle ages, etc. dab 08:51, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I've tried to jump-start this process by supplying a Template:History of Switzerland and also writing the first article of that proposed series. The template is a bit preliminary, though. See Template talk:History of Switzerland. Lupo 13:42, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * very good. We could reduce this article to essentially a long chronological bullet list, maybe with a summarizing paragraph for each section, and export the present text, as far as it is worth keeping, to the sub-articles. Concerning the article titles:
 * "Napoleonic era" is mostly about post-napoleonic times. Can't think of a better title at the moment, though.
 * "Democracy" is slightly misleading, since forms of democracy have been present for much longer. We should say "Constitution" or "Federal State".
 * I suggest we lump 1914-1938 with WWII.
 * "Modern history" is misleading. So is "postwar" (because there was no war, in Switzerland). Simple "After 1945" is probably better.
 * dab 15:04, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * I wouldn't turn the article into a pure chronological list. I like short summary paragraphs better. If you come up with a better term for what I've called tentatively the "Napoleonic era", go ahead and change it. I am quite aware that it would cover many events after Napoleon I was sent to exile. "Federal State" as a shortcut for Switzerland as a liberal democracy sounds good. Lupo 15:33, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * "Napoleonic era" is fine. Federal State is preferable in my view, because of the widely differing uses of liberal. Maybe the subsections in "before 1291" maybe too much for this summary; since there's a main article, we can get away with being very brief. dab 15:37, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Ok, I've changed the template accordingly. Lupo 07:45, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)

World war description
I have removed the following from the Switzerland article:

 * --Spain and Sweden also sold munitions and other industrial products to Nazi Germany during the war, and Venezuela sold the Nazis oil during the war)

IMHO, this is too much for the general article, but it could be included here, in the more extended article on the Swiss history. Kokiri 09:18, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Great. Someone's added some more details about the world wars. Originally we just had the rather curt sentence "Switzerland was not involved militarily in either world war". I corrected this with the Operation Tannenbaum reference, but steered clear of the contentious nazi gold issue. All interesting stuff though. The phrase "not involved militarily" has crept back in though. I'm not sure it is correct. Depends on your interpretation of the phrase I suppose, but it seems missleading. It was a stance of armed neutrality. The Swiss did mobilize a big army to defend themselves. It just never engaged the enemy in the end.

Quote from this article (which is bit biased)

"Threatened with attack from German and Italian forces from all sides, General Guisan devised the strategy of a delaying stand at the border, and a concentration of Swiss forces in the rugged and impassable Alps.... A fifth of the Swiss people, 850,000 out of the 4.2 million population, was under arms and mobilized... ".

Nojer2 20:44, 12 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * yeah, the article is very unfinished. I researched a little bit about the nazi gold, yesterday, but I didn't have enuogh time. It's certainly important that the issue is addressed in this section, but the first reparations of 1952 should be explained in greater detail, and it should also be noted that the Bergier results showed that there was certainly econoic involvement, but rather less than Switzerland had sometimes been accused of.
 * the "militarily" part: Switzerland was armed, but not *involved*. To be involved in a war, you actually have to participate in combat. We can take the number (850.000) of Swiss forces from your link, (but, please, not the adjcetives). dab 08:14, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

"Within Switzerland at the time of the conflict there was moderate polarization. Some were pacifists. Some took sides according to international capitalism or international communism. Others leaned more towards their language group, with some in French-speaking areas more pro-Allied, and some in Swiss-German areas more pro-Axis. The government attempted to thwart the activities of any individual, party, or faction in Switzerland that acted with extremism or attempted to break the unity of the nation. The Swiss-German speaking areas moved linguistically further away from the standard (high) German spoken in Germany, with more emphasis on local Swiss dialects."

This section makes no sense to me and if I had to guess I would assume that it originally described the situation during the 1st world war. Then there was a certain tendency of the German (well actually Swiss German) speaking part of Switzerland to be more in favour of Germany and of the French speaking part of Switzerland to be more in favour of France, but during the 2nd world war such a thing did simply not happen! To allude that the general "Swiss German" public was Nazi friendly is just simply nonsense! The last (and correct) sentence of the section actually reveals this discrepancy. The rest of the section is also quite awkwardly written; what exactly was the side of "international capitalism"? This needs to be rewritten. [anonymous 21:01, 12 Aug 2007 (UTC)

 * Also, what is this about moving linguistically away from high german? That implies people actually spoke to each other in high german before the war, and that the war caused them to use dialect more often. This sounds implausible. I think that sentence should be cited or simply removed.

CH Where does it stand for?
Can some one please add where CH stands for... I know it has to do with the cantons and there federation, yet I can't find any good explenation..
 * 'Confoederatio Helvetica'. Being rather a result than an event of history, this is already covered on the more general Switzerland page.

Valtellina
I googled a date of 1623 for the loss of the Valtellina. Why does it appear again 1798? (I'm not saying that must be wrong. The happenings in Grisons were quite complicated, and I don't have any detailed knowledge of the period) dab 11:33, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * The Grisons (or more precisely, the Drei Bünde) lost control over the Veltlin in the events of the Thirty Years War in the area from 1620 - 1639, when it was occupied by Spanish troops. They even lost the north-eastern parts of their territory to Austria for some time, and regained it only at the end of the war. looks pretty comprehensive and accurate, as far as I can tell. Lupo 12:09, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Another good source is . Lupo 12:14, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * that's what I had gathered. But why do we say "It lost the territory of Valtellina." under "Napoleonic era" for 1798, then? dab 12:35, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Because the Veltlin became part (or a dependency) of the Drei Bünde again after the Treaty of Westphalia and remaind so until the founding of the Cisalpine Republic by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797? It should be 1797, and the whole thing is a bit questionable anyway, the Grisons becoming part of Switzerland only in 1803! Before that, the Drei Bünde were a close associate of the Eidgenossenschaft, but not a member. (And similarly for the Valais, by the way. Geneva, too.)Lupo 12:52, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * ok, but unless we make a History of the Grisons article, this is the place to discuss these things. I try to make it all more clear. (also, the part of the intro "foussing on the fates of the Confederacy" may have to be expanded to explicitly allow accounts of post-1291, non-confederacy events on modern swiss territory) dab 13:25, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Swiss territorial increase claim is wrong
I don't agree with the statement made in the endof the Napoleonic years section that states that at that time "Swiss territory increased for the last time". I don't have historical sources to cite, but being from Switzerland I know that Jura became a formal Swiss Canton only in 1974 or so and thus the territory changed. Unless of course Jura was fully part of Berne before and thus geographically there was not increase in territory. In any case I think it should be made clearer.
 * the latter is the case. Jura was split off of Berne, and the Swiss territory remained unchanged. Also, it was in 1979 (as is stated quite unambiguously right here, in the "After 1945" section). dab (T) 13:11, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

It is actually still wrong as it increased in October 4, 1967 when Verenahof became part of Switzerland. I am deleting it as it is wrong. 137.195.250.2 (talk) 00:33, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

Independence
Switzerland and History of Switzerland seem to have a number of inconsistencies. According to these articles, Switzerland won de facto independence from the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire in 1315, 1385, and 1499, with no mention of becoming dependent between these dates. In addition, the article on Habsburg indicates that the Habsburgs weren't in control of the Holy Roman Empire on the first two of these three years (during which the House of Luxembourg had control of the empire, such as it was). Even if these seeming contradictions are somehow technically true, they should be clarified so as not to confuse readers. Calbaer 19:28, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Right. Talking of independency in 1315 (Battle of Morgarten) is utter nonsense. All the Swiss achieved in this battle was preventing being squashed by the Habsburgs right away. It's also nonsense for 1385 (should be 1386, Battle of Sempach). Again, this did not give them independence in any formal way, but it (and the following victories at Näfels etc.) firmly established the Swiss control over formerly Habsburg territories. One could perhaps say that in these battles at the end of the 14th century, the Swiss gained the indepency from the Habsburg dukes. They were, however, still a part of the Holy Roman Empire. 1499 (Swabian War) can indeed be seen as resulting in a de facto independence from the HRE, although that's simplifying a bit. The Old Swiss Confederacy still remained part of the HRE, but was exempt from the jurisdiction of the Imperial Chamber Court and did not have to pay imperial taxes. However, the Confederacy was perceived by other European rulers as a separate entity. Finally, in 1648 (Treaty of Westphalia), the Confederacy as a whole was granted formal exemption from the HRE and acknowledged internationally as a separate state. I don't have the time to fix all this now. Lupo 07:26, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
 * well yes, 1315 just established them as troublemakers to be reckoned with. But I think the point is that the OSC expanded over the 15th century, with some parts having more "de facto independence" than others. After 1386, the Urkantone may have been de facto independent, while the cities were still happy to entertain the emperor from time to time and saw no reason to aggressively detach themselves from the HRE. 1499 marks when the full OSC (approx. today's Alemannic Switzerland, minus the Grisons) cut the remaining bonds with the HRE for good. 16th century Switzerland cannot in any way be considered part of the HRE, and the Westphalia treaty was just a belated recognition of the status quo. dab (ᛏ) 08:53, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Uhm... I don't agree with "1499 marks when the full OSC ... cut the remaining bonds with the HRE for good. 16th century Switzerland cannot in any way be considered part of the HRE, and the Westphalia treaty was just a belated recognition of the status quo." That's the simplified schoolbook view. Modern historians disagree. While it is true that other rulers in Europe considered the OSC a separate entity (and often also viewed the OSC as a more homogeneous entity than it really was), the OSC was by no means independent yet, and the Swiss people did still consider themselves subjects (although distant ones, and reichsfrei) of the emperors. Even after 1499, Schaffhausen, Basel, and also the associated city of St. Gallen still had to respond to the Imperial Chamber Court because the emperor did not consider them included in the Peace of Basel as they joined the confederacy only later. (Which, BTW, was a major motivation for Wettstein's lobbying for formal exemption in 1648. This was initially his own initiative!) Look at crests in Switzerland from the 16th century, e.g. Image:COA Lenzburg.jpg (1596) or also Image:Schweizer Chronik Etterlin.jpg (1507): the imperial insignia were still used, and, as can be seen at Lenzburg, normally topped the Swiss' own insignia. See e.g. Jorio, M.: 1648: Die Schweiz und Europa: Aussenpolitik zur Zeit des Westfälischen Friedens, Chronos Verlag, Zürich 1999; ISBN 3905313146. Lupo 09:15, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
 * you are, as almost always, completely right :) 'all bonds' and 'full OSC' was exaggerated, and I suppose especially the more urban and upper-class strata cultivated "imperial nostalgia" for a long time after 1499. dab (ᛏ) 09:27, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

reporting vandalism
insertion of "i love katie" into link --Carolinacosmina 17:44, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

The bomb
Quote (this article as of 4 Feb 2010): ''After the war, Swiss authorities considered the construction of a Swiss nuclear bomb. Leading nuclear physicists at the Federal Institute of Technology such as Paul Scherrer made this a realistic possibility, and in 1958 the population clearly voted in favour of the bomb. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 was seen as a valid alternative, however, and the bomb was never built.'' - This is complete nonsense. First of all, there was no popular vote on the subject (there were two popular initiatives in the 60s, both aimed for a halt of the programme or at least a moratorium; both were rejected). There was a statement of the federal council in favor of the programme (published on 11 July 1958), nothing more. Beyond that, the consent is today that there was nothing like a realistic possibility for the project to succeed, quite the opposite was the case - the project grew to be the Swiss military's worst embarrassment of all times and led to the resignation of a federal councillor. Before that happened, the project had already proven to be practically impossible to finish: extensive surveys didn't show any useful resources in Switzerland, so the army acquired the material needed illegally; the first two reactors were failures and proved useless, and the third reactor had to be abandoned. Planes meant to carry the Swiss bomb were to be built (or at least assembled) in Switzerland, but sheer incapability of the strategists involved rendered this enterprise a financial crash. When the national council in 1964 was asked for additional credit to finance the Mirage project, they said no - which led to the creation of a legendary investigation commission, a report and, after that, to the government giving half of the general staff the sack and the defense minister stepping down. Who wrote that entry? We need a new one. Meapappia (talk) 15:53, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

Merge articles
It seems that there are three articles with overlapping information:

1. History of Switzerland

2. Modern history of Switzerland

3. Switzerland during the World Wars

I think these should be combined -- or if that is too long for one article, at least edit them so they do not overlap. --Semitemos (talk) 01:37, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

 * Certainly not. History of Switzerland should a summary-style overview article covering the whole history. Each of its sections should link to one of the "main articles" from the series. Switzerland during the World Wars (1914 - 1945) and Modern history of Switzerland (1945 - present) should be two articles of that series detailing specific periods in more detail. If there's a lot of overlap between these two, it should be decided where the info should go, and in the other article, again only a summary (with a pointer to the main article) should be left. Lupo 16:00, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Meaning of CH and Nidwalden Protestant?
CH means Helvetica Confederation (placing swapped in Latin, thus CH) also, in the Reformation section, it mentions that Nidwalden was one of the cantons that remained Catholic, however, it is of my knowledge that Obwalden was the one remaining Catholic while Nidwalden turned Protestant no? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.198.91.95 (talk) 04:07, 21 November 2012 (UTC)
 * No. Nidwalden remained Catholic (see "Nidwalden", section 3.4, "Kirche, Kultur und Bildung"). "CH" stands for "Confoederatio Helvetica", in use since 1848. That really could be mentioned somewhere. Lupo 08:07, 21 November 2012 (UTC)

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title: Talk:History of Switzerland


text:
Gulf of Sidra incident (1981)

In the first Gulf of Sidra incident, 19 August 1981, two Libyan Su-22 Fitters fired upon two U.S. F-14 Tomcats and were subsequently shot down off the Libyan coast. Libya had claimed that the entire Gulf was their territory, at 32° 30′ N, with an exclusive 62 nmi fishing zone, which Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi asserted as "The Line of Death" in 1973. Two further incidents occurred in the area in 1986 and in 1989.

Background

In 1973, Libya claimed the Gulf of Sidra as a closed bay and part of its territorial waters. This prompted the United States to conduct Freedom of Navigation (FON) operations in the area since the claim did not meet the criteria established by international law. Libya often confronted U.S. forces in and near the gulf, and on two occasions its fighter jets opened fire on U.S. reconnaissance flights off the Libyan coast; once in early 1973  and again in late 1980. FON operations intensified when Ronald Reagan became president.

In August 1981, Reagan authorized a large naval force led by a pair of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, USS Forrestal (CV-59) and USS Nimitz (CVN-68), to deploy to the disputed area. The two carriers had embarked a total of four interceptor squadrons: VF-74 "Be-Devilers" and VMFA-115 "Silver Eagles", flying F-4 Phantoms from Forrestal, and the VF-41 "Black Aces" and VF-84 "Jolly Rogers", flying F-14 Tomcats from Nimitz. The Libyan Air Force responded by deploying a high number of interceptors and fighter-bombers.

Early in the morning of 18 August, when the U.S. exercise began, at least three MiG-25 'Foxbats' approached the U.S. carrier groups, and were escorted away by American interceptors. The Libyans tried to establish the exact location of the U.S. naval force. Thirty-five pairs of MiG-23 'Floggers', MiG-25s, Sukhoi Su-20 'Fitter-Cs', Su-22M 'Fitter-Js' and Mirage F1s flew into the area, and were soon intercepted by seven pairs of F-14s and F-4s. U.S. Naval Intelligence later assessed that a MiG-25 may have fired a missile from 18 mi away at U.S. fighter aircraft that day.

Incident
On the morning of 19 August, after having diverted a number of Libyan "mock" attacks on the battle group the previous day, two F-14s from VF-41 "Black Aces", Fast Eagle 102 (CDR Henry 'Hank' Kleemann/LT David 'DJ' Venlet) (flying BuNo 160403) and Fast Eagle 107 (LT Lawrence 'Music' Muczynski/LTJG James 'Luca' Anderson) (in BuNo 160390), were flying a combat air patrol (CAP), ostensibly to cover aircraft engaged in a missile exercise. However, U.S. Navy Commander Thompson S. Sanders wrote in Air & Space/Smithsonian that his S-3A Viking's mission was the real precursor to this incident. Sanders was ordered to fly his Viking in a "racetrack" orbit (oval pattern) inside Gaddafi's claimed zone but outside the internationally recognized 12 mi territorial water limit to try to provoke the Libyans to react. An E-2C Hawkeye alerted Sanders that two Sukhoi Su-22 fighters had taken off from Ghurdabiyah Air Base near the city of Sirte.

The Hawkeye directed the F-14s to intercept. Sanders dove to an altitude of 500 ft and flew north to evade the Libyan aircraft, an experience Sanders found stressful because the S-3A was not equipped with a threat warning receiver, nor with any countermeasures, a deficiency later remedied on the S-3B. The two F-14s set up for an intercept as the contacts headed north towards them. Only a few seconds before the crossing, at an estimated distance of 300 m, one of the Libyans fired an AA-2 "Atoll" at one of the F-14s, but missed.

The two Su-22s split as they flew past the Americans, the leader turning to the northwest and the wingman turning southeast in the direction of the Libyan coast. The Tomcats evaded the missile and were cleared to return fire by their rules of engagement, which mandated self-defense on the initiation of hostile action. The Tomcats turned hard port and came behind the Libyan jets. The Americans fired AIM-9L Sidewinders; the first kill is credited to Fast Eagle 102, the second to Fast Eagle 107. Both Libyan pilots ejected.

Prior to the ejections, a U.S. electronic surveillance plane monitoring the event recorded the lead Libyan pilot reporting to his ground controller that he had fired a missile at one of the U.S. fighters and gave no indication that the missile shot was unintended. The official U.S. Navy report states that both Libyan pilots ejected and were safely recovered, but in the official audio recording of the incident taken from USS Biddle (DLG-34), one of the F-14 pilots states that he saw a Libyan pilot eject, but his parachute failed to open.

Less than an hour later, while the Libyans were conducting a search-and-rescue operation for their downed pilots, two MiG-25s entered the airspace over the Gulf. They headed towards the U.S. carriers at Mach 1.5 and conducted a mock attack in the direction of USS Nimitz. Two VF-41 Tomcats headed towards the Libyans, which then turned around. The Tomcats turned home, but had to turn around again when the Libyans headed towards the U.S. carriers once more. After being tracked by the F-14s' radars, the MiGs finally headed home. One more Libyan formation ventured out into the Gulf towards the U.S. forces later that day.

Aftermath
Fast Eagle 102 (BuNo 160403) is now on display at the Commemorative Air Force Museum in Midland, Texas. The restored F-14 was unveiled in a ceremony in August 2016. Vice Admiral Dave Venlet cut the first tape. Fast Eagle 107 (BuNo 160390) was destroyed in an accident on 25 October 1994.

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

title: Gulf of Sidra incident (1981)


text:
User talk:Sanacja

Hello Sanacja, welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them;

 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

I would also like to direct your attention to Auto-biography, just so you know what you're getting into.

If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!

Cyan 00:11, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)

P.S. You can sign your name by writing three tildes. Four tildes adds a timestamp, as with my signature above.

I think I can imagine how unpleasant this experience must have been: it is so exciting to discover Wikipedia, which anyone can edit, and therefore seems so free and open; but then one's new articles are commented on and altered by a fairly critical group of users. I'm impressed at the way you have tried to address the concerns of the other users, and I encourage you to keep contributing! If you intend to contribute more about political issues, Neutral point of view will be a helpful link. Cheers, Cyan 05:27, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Why do you keep deleting the following?

Selective censorship should not be applied on here or in real life.
 * Then why did you delete my comment "Please stop trying to use Wikipedia to promote your newly- founded political ambitions. Thank you. Andy Mabbett 01:11, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC) ", and remove my name from my "user" page? Andy Mabbett 01:33, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)
 * and the factual accuracy comment from Sanacja? Semes you're the wannabe censor. Andy Mabbett 01:40, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Censorship and editting for accuracy are not the same thing. I change your references to Hitler because they have nothing to do with Sanacja, whereas you report my pages for deletion and copyright infringment because you want to censor them. There is a difference between removing your implied Hitler links and my cited biographical material. Sanacja 16:32, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)
 * Futher dishonesty; I have implied no "links" with Hitler; I have reported none of your pages for deletion. Your edits have nothing to do with accuracy; they are censorship of a view you have said you find offensive. I reported one page for potential copyright infirngement, because you said you had translated the material fom an external source. I have no desire to censor your pages, at all.Andy Mabbett 18:19, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)

I'd suggest, in this situation, that you should ask Andy Mabbett directly what he wants. Try to engage in a fruitful, on-topic discussion. Be cool! Also try to avoid statements like "Andy Mabbett is harassing me," because that is a matter of point of view. You can write things like, "I feel like Andy Mabbett is harassing me," because that is a statement about you, and you are the final authority on your own internal feelings. -- Cyan 18:05, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)

title: User talk:Sanacja


text:
Arms trade

Arms trade may refer to:

 * the global markets for any product of the arms industry
 * Small arms trade
 * Illegal arms trade (arms trafficking)

title: Arms trade


text:
User talk:Renamed user szf5dlfkjw364j1

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them;

 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!

snoyes 00:20, 22 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Hello
Nice meeting you. I find that you are an old user. I feel sad to find that you could not contribute much. Please contribute more. Thanks. --Bhadani 16:56, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Stella Maris College
Hello, I have rectified by deleting/redirecting/cutting and pasting/ etc., the anamoligies which arose on account of making two pages out of this page and creating a disambiguation page without proper naming convention. Any objection? --Bhadani 17:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I once again request you to give me benefit of your knowledge and experience. Regards. --Bhadani 17:08, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Universelles Leben
Thank you for partially translating the Universelles Leben article into English. I was looking forward to it for a long time; I really appreciate it. I don't speak German, so I was wondering if you could put an interwiki link (en: interwiki) to the English article on the German article's "in other languages" box? Perhaps you won't be able to do this since the main article is locked, but I think you can make the suggestion in the talk page. It would also be good if Życie Uniwersalne and Univerzális Élet have a link to Universal Life, since Polish-speakers browsing the Polish article might not know that there is a corresponding article in English. Same with Hungarian. I don't know if you have an account in those Wikipedias though, or can speak Hungarian or Polish. It would be wonderful if you could translate the rest of the article (like about the conflict with VOICE magazine, and the antisemitism), but if you can't, maybe some unilingual Polish speaker or unilingual Hungarian speaker could translate the rest of their own language's article into English (even though they are both shorter than the German one). I really appreciate you translating what you've done so far! Thank you! This is my first time editing a talk page, so I hope I have used the correct Wiki markup --Xandiar 07:05, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

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Ford Scorpio

The Ford Scorpio is an executive car that was produced by Ford Germany from 1985 to 1998. It was the replacement for the European Ford Granada line (although in the UK and Ireland the Scorpio was marketed under the Granada name until 1994). Like its predecessor, the Scorpio was targeted at the executive car market. A variant known as the Merkur Scorpio was sold briefly on the North American market during the late 1980s. While Ford's Taurus was of a similar size, Ford maintained the need for two parallel cars – while Scorpio buyers valued high-speed stability, a tight turning radius, and a sizable rear seat, American buyers had other requirements.

First generation (1985–1994)
Codenamed DE-1 during its development (since it was intended to straddle the European D and E segments), the Scorpio was heavily based on the Sierra, sitting on a stretched version of its floorpan, and using a similar styling philosophy set by both the Sierra and the third generation Escort.

Under the bonnet were well proven engines, starting with the venerable Pinto engine unit in 1.8 L and 2.0 L capacities, as well as the V6 Cologne engine in 2.4 or 2.8-litre displacements. The larger engine was later replaced by a 2.9-liter derivative, and while the slow selling 2.4 remained in production until 1994 it was effectively replaced by the 2.0 DOHC in most markets. By the summer of 1989, the Pinto engines had begun to be gradually replaced, with the eight-valve version of Ford's DOHC engine replacing the 2.0 L model.

The Scorpio was intended to maintain Ford's position in Europe as the principal alternative to a Mercedes or BMW for those looking to own an executive car. It was also launched more than a year ahead of new competitors from Rover and Opel/Vauxhall.

To this end Ford built on the already extensive specification available on the outgoing MkII Granada (which for the period, was very well equipped, with features such as leather seats, air conditioning, electric sunroof, and trip computer either standard or available as options) by adding some additional features unusual on a mass market car. Improvements available included: heated windscreen, cruise control, electrically adjustable seats front and rear and later all-wheel drive.

Initially the Chubb AVA lock barrel was fitted to models at launch, but by around 1987 these were replaced by the Tibbe lock.

The most notable advance was the fitment of anti-lock braking system, the first time this feature had been made standard across the whole range on a mass-produced car. The car was widely praised as being very comfortable and spacious, particularly in respect of its rear legroom.

Unlike the Granada, it was initially only available as a hatchback, and not as a saloon or estate. This proved to be a mistake for Ford, which later introduced a saloon version in December 1989. An estate version finally appeared in the beginning of 1992, when the whole range underwent a facelift, with new styling which hinted at the new Mondeo, which would replace the Sierra a year later. There were few engineering changes over the years, notably the introduction of the DOHC engines in 1989, and the Scorpio Cosworth with a 2.9 L 24 valve Cosworth V6 in December 1990.

The Cosworth was both large and fast, which consequently gave it poor fuel consumption. Many owners often commented at the fact that 25 miles per gallon was about as much as you could get out of a car with this engine. Prop-shaft deterioration over time was also considered to be a problem on early Mark I and II Cosworths.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, following the initial market resistance towards the Sierra, something which had been attributed to its radical styling, Ford elected to keep the Granada name in those markets, making the Scorpio effectively a Mk III Granada. The "Scorpio" name was instead used as a trim designation rather than the model name, being positioned higher than Ford's traditional Ghia top of the range model. These models were marketed as "Granada Scorpio", but were badged simply as "Scorpio", with an elongated "Granada" underneath.

Merkur Scorpio
The Merkur Scorpio was a North American version of the European Scorpio Mk I. The car was offered at select Lincoln–Mercury dealerships from 1988 to 1989.

The Merkur Scorpio was only offered with the Cologne 2.9L V6 engine with some detail differences from the contemporary Fords. Adapted to meet American emissions requirements, the Merkur version of the Scorpio produced 140 hp when introduced to the North American market in 1988.

The vast majority were fitted with the A4LD four speed automatic transmission, and the rest received the T-9 five speed manual transmission. Only automatic versions of the Scorpio were available in Canada. The car was marketed as an upscale, mid-size luxury car, but never achieved the market impact that the Ford Motor Company hoped for. Ford dropped the Merkur nameplate altogether after 1989.

Facelifted model
The model was a facelifted Mark I with changed grille, headlights, rear lights, bonnet and dashboard. It went on sale in March 1992, at the same time that an estate model (first shown in October 1991 at the London Motorfair) was added to the range.

The outdated Peugeot XD3 diesel engine was also replaced by a more powerful unit from Italian VM Motori. This facelift realigned the look of the Granada with the forthcoming Mondeo, and kept styling cues coherent across the model range.

Second generation (1994–1998)
Launched at the Paris Motor Show in October 1994, the second generation Scorpio was made available in saloon or estate styles only, the hatchback bodystyle having been dropped. It had largely the same floorpan as its predecessor as well as all of the same engines that were in use at the end of the first generation's run. Many suspension and handling improvements were made between the first and second generations (including self levelling rear suspension on the estates). It was also radically restyled both inside and outside, with new design of headlights, grille and door handles, which were taken from the Ford Crown Victoria.

Despite its controversial styling, the luxury interior, handling and performance were widely praised by reviewers. Edward Stobart praised the car, and Jeremy Clarkson declared it '[as] equally talented' as the Vauxhall Omega, one of the Scorpio's main rivals, and that it was 'well made... extremely well equipped, and considering its size, it was good value for money'. In general however, this praise however was overshadowed by criticism concerning the styling. In addition, the "Granada" name, which had been retained in the United Kingdom and Ireland for the MkI Scorpio (AKA MkIII Granada) was finally dropped and the "Scorpio" name – already used elsewhere – was adopted.

In April 1998, it was listed as the third worst N-registered car (August 1995 to July 1996) to own in the United Kingdom from a Top Gear survey of 120 cars, receiving a particularly low rating for its reliability. It fared slightly better in the 1999 and 2000 surveys.

In September 1997, the Scorpio was facelifted, with darker headlight surrounds and a more subtle grille, to tone down the front end of the car. The '50s-throwback' 'low-slung wrap-around' rear lights were also revised to make the 'plump' rear-end of the car less bulbous. Despite plans to release a new model in 1998, this was to be the last development for the model, which finished production over the summer of 1998.

Whether or not the car genuinely made Ford's sales expectations, the shifting European car market at the end of the 1990s meant that it was not directly replaced. This was not unusual at the time, with the market trending towards either high-specced large family cars for executives or towards multi-purpose vehicles for families, as mainstream brands gradually surrendered the "E" segment to "premium" brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi. Reflecting this new reality, Ford's ownership of Jaguar and Volvo meant that it now had direct access to the European executive car market with the newly developed Jaguar S-Type and Volvo S80 without directly replacing the Scorpio.

The Dutch royal family used several Scorpios, some stretched ones, and all painted in Royal Blue. There is still a custom-built Scorpio landaulet in the royal stables. After Ford ended the production, the Volvo S80 replaced the Ford models.

Styling and appearance
The new Scorpio was the first ever Ford design developed entirely using a CAD/CAM computer system, and inside the car were new armchair style seats and improved interior quality, but outside the new 'Americanised' look was controversial. The car sported bulbous 'globular' headlights and its tail lights were arranged in a thin line just above the bumper (described as a 'gratuitously narrow... ill-chosen necklace... resembling a giant cushion'). Unusually, Ford never released the name of the designer and maintain to this day that the car outsold its expected figures (although they never released what those figures actually were), however it has been noted that the unknown designer was 'very proud' of their work.

The bulging headlights and wide grille were defended as 'bold', 'quirky', 'a design statement', 'dramatic', and provided 'refreshing lines', but the public and press reaction to the design was largely negative. Contemporary reviewers wrote that the car had a 'stupid grin', 'gormless mouth', 'droopy nose', 'daft' 'humped boot', 'dopey eyes', 'revolting' 'stupid headlights', a 'fish-mouth grille opening', 'fat flanks', a 'reptilian gurn', and that it looked 'mixed up', 'boxy yet curvy', 'gargoyle-ugly' and 'bug eyed', it 'resembled something that David Attenborough might reveal from a dank cave in Borneo', and 'driving a milk float would score more cred points in a traffic jam'.

The styling was so controversial that several months before the release of the vehicle to the public, Ford set up a focus group involving large sections of the automotive press at their engineering and design center in Cologne, comparing the distinctive 'smiling mouth' grille to historic designs such as those from Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, and Austin-Healey. The acknowledgement by Ford of good design from other manufacturers was praised by the press; however, the design of the Scorpio itself received universal condemnation, and the focus group failed to placate the media regarding the car's appearance, who would later go on to viciously attack the styling on release. On release, the styling was immediately criticised in both the automotive press and the non-automotive mainstream media, with entire pages in the latter attacking the aesthetics. Tony Mason of Top Gear disliked the front, saying that the headlamps looked out of place and the car looked incomplete, Edward Stobart described the car as 'the ugliest car in Britain', particularly disliking the 'featureless' rear, saying that it did not look as good as the BMW 7-Series, while Ken Greenley of the Royal College of Art (designer of the SsangYong Musso and Rodius) disliked the entire design philosophy. Described as 'just plain ugly', 'like one of those fairground cars with a silly face on the front', 'like something out of Walt Disney, someone has gone on acid and tripped to the Seventies for the front', and 'designed by a committee of people in sunglasses sitting in the dark'. Other reviewers were even more scathing, one saying that 'it doesn't have much of a personality... the front of the car is like a face with a huge beaming smile... it looks a bit ridiculous really', another describing the front end as 'look[ing] like someone's just rammed a banana up its bottom', and another remarking 'I wouldn't feel proud of this... it's the ugliest car going'.

After release, the criticism became even more intense, journalists describing it as 'much unloved', 'Britain's most unpopular car', a 'poor relation' to its rivals, 'styled like a guppy', with 'the looks of a smiling frog', and 'the ugliest manmade vehicle of all time'.

Described as a 'gopping hideous monstrosity', Jeremy Clarkson wrote in The Times at the time that this car had "village idiot features" and a "loopy face". He elaborated later on that the Scorpio ended any argument as to which car was the ugliest on the road, that the car "resemble[s] an extra from Finding Nemo", and that it had 'a face of such unparalleled awfulness' and would 'make... children cry'. Richard Hammond and James May described it as 'gopping', while May additionally described it as 'not Ford's finest styling', and in Richard Porter's 2004 book Crap Cars the Scorpio Mark II was listed as number 49 (of 50) on looks alone.

On the DVD special Clarkson: Heaven and Hell, Jeremy Clarkson set up a jousting contest between a Scorpio – which he described as "a wide mouthed frog" – and a Triumph TR7, eventually destroying both cars via head-on collision.

In Germany, the satirical magazine Titanic noted the Scorpio's front's similarity to the facial features of politician Günter Verheugen, who would go on to become EU Commissioner.

Trim levels and engines
The Scorpio Mark II was available in the following levels of trim (each one being available as a saloon or an estate and with any engine). Regardless of the trim level, any car with a 2.9 Cosworth engine was fitted with traction control, cruise control and an automatic gearbox as standard (a manual gearbox could not be specified at all). All other engines could be fitted with either a manual or automatic transmission although, in practice, the vast majority of Scorpios were automatic.
 * Ford Scorpio Final iteration.JPGtive: The base model, although even this had a high level of specification including electric windows, ABS, PAS as well as an alarm and immobiliser.
 * Ghia: This level added air conditioning, alloy wheels, front fog lights and electric mirrors as well as a variety of minor additions.
 * Ultima: The highest level added a CD autochanger, climate control, leather seats, cruise control and an automatically dimming mirror, and electrically operated seats as well as a variety of other minor improvements.

Some Ultima versions were fitted with a VM Motori 2.5 litre turbo diesel engine. The VM halves the fuel bills but suffered from turbo lag and a tendency to all-or-nothing acceleration.

Unusually trim levels and engine sizes were not liveried on the backs of the cars. Rather the trim levels were liveried on the sides of the cars by the Scorpio badges on the rear window frames as such. The Executive had no badge, simply the word "Scorpio". Each other model had the model name under the badge, for example "Scorpio Ultima."

Engine sizes were also on the sides of the cars towards the front just above the auxiliary indicator lights as such:

 * 2.0 L: no badge (on older cars the two litre 8 valve had no badge but the two litre sixteen valve bore had the badge "2.0 16v")
 * 2.3 L: "2.3" (on older cars "2.3 16v")
 * 2.9 L: "2.9" (on older cars "2.9 12v")
 * 2.9 L: Cosworth "24v"

Unlike the Mark I Scorpio, the word "Cosworth" did not appear anywhere on the outside of cars fitted with such an engine (possibly in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of vehicle theft) although it is in evidence across the top of the engine. However, on the 1998 facelift, the Cosworth badge is clearly visible on the trunk lid. The output of the Cosworth V6 had also been increased from 195 hp to 207 hp for the second generation.

title: Ford Scorpio


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Chris Gaines

Chris Gaines is a one-off fictional rock persona created as a movie character for Garth Brooks to explore musical styles far removed from his success as a country singer.

Initially, Brooks planned to feature the Gaines persona in The Lamb, a motion picture that never materialized. In 1999, Brooks released Garth Brooks in...the Life of Chris Gaines, his only album as Gaines. The album produced two charting Billboard singles, including the top 5 pop hit "Lost in You".

History
In 1999, Brooks and his production company Red Strokes Entertainment, with Paramount Pictures, began to develop a film in which Brooks would star. The Lamb was to have revolved around Chris Gaines, a fictional rock singer and his emotionally conflicted life as a musician in the public eye. To create buzz for the project, Brooks took on the identity of Gaines in the October 1999 album Garth Brooks in...the Life of Chris Gaines, which was intended as a "pre-soundtrack" to the film. The project – a departure from Brooks' usual material – was intended to represent the "greatest hits" of Gaines' entire career, spanning several decades of supposed recordings. Although Brooks himself developed the Gaines character and backstory, he did not write any of the songs on the album.

To promote the album's release, Brooks appeared as Gaines in a television "mockumentary" for the VH1 series Behind the Music and as the musical guest on an episode of Saturday Night Live, which he hosted as himself.

The album – and Brooks' promotion of it – received a lukewarm reception. The album received mixed reviews, and Brooks' fans responded with general confusion as to the purpose of the project. Although the album made it to No. 2 on the Billboard 200, expectations had been higher and retail stores began heavily discounting their oversupply. Less than expected sales of the album (more than two million) and no further developments in the production of the film, as a result, brought the project to an indefinite hiatus in February 2001, and the Gaines character quickly faded into obscurity.

Despite the less than spectacular response to the project, Brooks gained his first – and, to date, only – Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 single with "Lost in You", the first single from the album (Brooks had previously prevented his songs from appearing on the chart by refusing to release them to pop music radio stations). Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic speculated that the alternate persona and elaborate marketing scheme backfired, writing, "When Brooks' new persona and his album were revealed to the public, they were unforgiving – they didn't think he was playing a role, they simply thought he'd lost his mind." However, Erlewine gave the album a 3-out-of-5 stars rating and in the same review later wrote: "Judged as Brooks' first pop album, it's pretty good, and if it had been released that way, it likely would have been embraced by a wide audience."

In March 2021, Brooks announced that The Life of Chris Gaines was to be rereleased on multiple platforms, including digital and vinyl, adding that previously unreleased songs were also forthcoming.

Singles

 * Notes
 * A^ "It Don't Matter to the Sun" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100 but peaked at number 13 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.
 * B^ "Right Now" did not enter the Billboard Hot 100 but peaked at number 50 on the Radio and Records Pop Chart (with "Lost In You" earlier reaching number 42 on that chart).

title: Chris Gaines


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Malvern College

Malvern College is a fee-charging coeducational boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school in the British sense of the term and is a member of the Rugby Group and of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Since its foundation in 1865, it has remained on the same grounds, which are located near the town centre of Great Malvern. The campus, now covering some 250 acres (101 ha), is near the Malvern Hills.

Among the alumni of the college are at least two Commonwealth prime ministers, two Nobel laureates (five Nobel Prizes including prep school alumni), an Olympic gold medalist and many other notable persons from various fields. The novelist C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia, was a pupil of the school.

There are currently about 650 pupils enrolled at the school, aged between 13 and 19. Additionally, they are linked with a prep school, The Downs Malvern, Colwall, in Herefordshire which has about 175 pupils. The College also operates five overseas campuses in China, Egypt, Hong Kong and Tokyo which opened in September 2023.

History
Set in the Malvern Hills, the school's location owes much to Malvern's emergence in the nineteenth century as a fashionable spa resort, appreciated for its unpolluted air and the healing qualities of its famous spring water. The school opened its doors for the first time on 25 January 1865 under the headship of Arthur Faber. Initially, there were only twenty-four boys, of whom eleven were day boys, six masters and two houses, named Mr McDowall's (No.1) and Mr Drew's (No.2). The new school expanded. One year later, there were sixty-four boys. By 1875, there were 200 on the roll and five boarding houses ; by the end of the 19th century, the numbers had risen to more than 400 boys and ten houses. American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow visited the school in 1868, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Helena of the United Kingdom on speech-day in 1870, and Francis, Duke of Teck, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge visited in 1891 with their daughter, Mary of Teck (later Queen Mary). Lord Randolph Churchill's speech-day comments on education in 1889 were reported in The Times. The school was one of the twenty four public schools listed in the Public Schools Yearbook of 1889 and was incorporated by royal charter in 1928. Further expansion of pupil numbers and buildings continued between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the start of the Second World War in 1939.

During the two Wars, 457 and 258 former pupils, respectively, gave their lives. Seven former pupils took part in the Battle of Britain. In 1925, the War Memorial Library was built to the designs of Sir Aston Webb, with the chimney piece in the upper chamber created by Leonard Shuffrey.

During World War II, the college premises were requisitioned by the Admiralty between October 1939 and July 1940, and the school temporarily relocated to Blenheim Palace. In 1942, its premises were again needed for governmental use, on this occasion by the TRE and, from May 1942 to July 1946, the school was housed with Harrow School. QinetiQ, a private sector successor to the government's original research facility, is still sited on former college land.

Having traditionally been a school for boys aged from 13 to 18 years old, in 1992 it merged with Ellerslie Girls’ School and Hillstone prep school to become a coeducational school for pupils aged 3 to 18 years old. The college also departed from the full boarding tradition of the English public school by allowing day pupils, although over two-thirds of pupils board. In September 2008, the College's Prep School merged with The Downs prep school on the latter's nearby site in Colwall, Herefordshire to form The Downs, Malvern College Prep School.

Past developments
The year 2008 also saw the start of a development scheme that included a new sports complex, new athletics and viewing facilities at the pitches and two new boarding houses. The sports complex and new houses were opened in October 2009. Ellerslie House was opened for girls, commemorating the eponymous former girls' school, and the other new house has become the new permanent residence for the boys of No. 7.

In 2010 part of the school suffered very serious damage when fire broke out on 10 April in one of the boarding houses. The 1871 Grade II listed building which was the boarding house for 55 girls and living accommodation of the housemistress and her family, was almost completely destroyed. Over 70 firefighters and 13 fire engines from Malvern, Worcester and Stourport-on-Severn depots fought the blaze. The fire was confined to the living quarters of the housemistress and her family, who were away at the time. No pupils were in the building, as the term had finished. The house reopened on 18 April.

The original preparatory school, Hillstone, opened in 1883. When the college went coeducational, Hillstone was absorbed into Malvern to become its prep department. The prep school merged with The Downs, a Quaker school founded in 1900, and the new school is now known as The Downs Malvern.

Boarding is available to pupils in the prep school aged 7 and above, who reside in a separate boarding house known as The Warren.

Governance
The school is governed by a College Council of approximately fifteen members, chaired by Robin Black. Educationalist and former cricketer Antony Clark joined the school as Headmaster in 2008.

After Clark's departure in 2019, Keith Metcalfe replaced him as Headmaster.

Educational and social care standards
An Ofsted report, following an October 2010 inspection, rated the school's services against specific criteria and assigned an overall quality rating of Grade 1 (outstanding). This compares to an overall rating of Grade 2 (good) in the previous report published in 2008. In the latest report, "organisation" and health and safety provision were upgraded to Grade 1 while boarding accommodation was rated Grade 2. Other areas assessed included "helping children to achieve", to "make a positive contribution" and to "enjoy what they do" and these remained Grade 1 (outstanding). The report states that four recommendations made in Ofsted's last report had all been addressed and that the school "delivers an outstanding service that continues to be developed".

Structure
While academic success is considered important, emphasis is also placed on the all-round development of the individual rather than on academic results alone. In the Sixth Form, courses are offered at A-Level in art, business studies, classical civilisation, design and technology, drama and theatre studies, economics, English literature, geography, Greek, history, history of art, key skills, Latin, mathematics, modern languages (French, German, Spanish), music, music technology, physical education, politics and the sciences (biology, chemistry, physics). The International Baccalaureate (IB) has further been available in the Sixth Form at Malvern since 1992. Further courses and special arrangements are sometimes made for other courses upon request.

Academic performance
In both the 2008 and 2010 Ofsted reports, a Grade 1 (outstanding) rating was assigned for "helping children to achieve", to "make a positive contribution" and to "enjoy what they do". In 2010, the school was, according to OFSTED, ranked 28th among private schools for value added to its students' A Level results, placing it within the top 5% nationally. In 2011, it was 79th among co-ed independent boarding schools for A-Level results. The school's pupils have achieved particularly good results at IB level. In 2011, the school was ranked 18th for the average grades of its IB pupils. In 2012, The Independent review of both A level and IB results, based on government-issued statistics, ranked Malvern 32nd in the UK with 1080.7 points. In 2019, 29% of pupils scored A*-A for their A-Levels examination, whereas 60% scored A*-A for their GCSEs. For IB, 27% of the 2019 cohort scored 40 or more IB points.

Extracurricular activities
The college plays sports such as football, cricket, rugby, rackets, fives, athletics, tennis, squash, croquet, basketball, badminton, golf and polo. At the school, boys play hockey and girls play cricket and football.

On 16 October 2009, a new sports complex and hospitality suite was opened by The Duke of York. The opening was attended by several well known sports personalities including athlete Dame Kelly Holmes, cricketers Michael Vaughan and Graham Gooch, footballer Peter Shilton, rugby union player Jason Leonard, athlete Christina Boxer and hockey player Rachel Walker. The indoor complex, which was built on the site of the old sports hall and swimming pool, offers an 8 court sports hall, a dance studio and fitness suite, a climbing wall, two squash courts, a shooting range, a large function suite, and a 6 lane swimming pool and its facilities are also available for use by the wider community. They are also used by Worcestershire County Cricket Club for their winter training programme. In February 2010, the school also hosted the England Blind Cricket squad for training sessions.

Traditions
The school song, "Carmen Malvernense", was written and composed by two masters, M. A. Bayfield and R. E. Lyon. It was first sung on speech day in 1888. The same song became the school song of Eastbourne College when Bayfield became headmaster there in 1895, though presumably with a change of title.

Innovations
The college has a history of innovation in the field of education. In 1963, it was the first independent school to have a language laboratory. It is thought to be the first school in the country to have had a careers service. Under the direction of John Lewis, it pioneered Nuffield Physics in the 1960s, Science in Society in the 1970s, and the Diploma of Achievement in the 1990s. At the beginning of the 1990s, Malvern College became one of the first schools in Britain to offer the choice between the International Baccalaureate and A-Levels in the Sixth Form. The school was one of the first boys' public schools to become fully coeducational from the preparatory department to sixth form.

Each summer the staff and some older pupils run a summer school, Young Malvern, which incorporates many sports, activities and learning experiences. Malvern College is one of the two schools in the country (the other being Dulwich College) to offer debating in the curriculum and pupils participate in regional and national competitions including the Debating Matters competition and the Three Counties Tournament. The subject is compulsory at Foundation Year level.

Overseas campuses
The college has five overseas campuses under the governance of Malvern College International:

 * Malvern College Qingdao
 * Malvern College Chengdu both in Mainland China
 * Malvern College Egypt
 * Malvern College Hong Kong located in Pak Shek Kok, New Territories, Hong Kong
 * Malvern College Tokyo

A Swiss campus at Leysin has closed.

Since 2021 the Malvern College schools in China & Hong Kong have been required to teach the National Curriculum of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Notable alumni
Among the alumni of the college since its foundation in 1865 are Nobel laureates, Olympic gold medalists and many other notable persons from various fields including heads of state, high ranking military personnel, royalty, media personalities, scientists, and sports people.

The school's alumni ("old boys") are known as Old Malvernians, or OMs. The Malvernian Society holds many annual reunions and events. Old Malvernians, including former pupils of The Downs, Hillstone, and Ellerslie schools which have merged with Malvern College, benefit from a remission in fees for their own children. Other Old Malvernian clubs and societies include OM Lodge, Court Games, Golf, Sailing, Shooting, the Old Malvernians Cricket Club, and the Old Malvernians Football Club, a club competing in the Arthurian League.

Among the school's alumni is Najib Razak, a pupil of the school from 1968 to 1971, who served as the 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020 he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, and is currently serving a sentence of imprisonment.

Old Malvernians have been instrumental in the formation of sporting and charitable organisations such as Blackburn Rovers FC and the Docklands Settlements.

title: Malvern College