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Bungi dialect

Bungi (also called Bungee, Bungie, Bungay, Bangay, or the Red River Dialect) is a dialect of English with substratal influence from Scottish English, the Orcadian dialect of Scots, Norn, Scottish Gaelic, French, Cree, and Ojibwe (Saulteaux). It was spoken by the Scottish Red River Métis in present-day Manitoba, Canada, and formerly in areas of Ontario and Minnesota, United States.

Bungi has been categorized as a post-creole, with the distinctive features of the language gradually abandoned by successive generations of speakers in favour of standard Canadian English. In 1870, about 5,000 Métis were native speakers of Bungi, but by the late 1980s, only a handful of elderly speakers were known. Today, Bungi has very few if any speakers and is potentially extinct.

Bungi was spoken in the Lower Red River Colony in the area from The Forks (where the Red River and Assiniboine River meet in what is now downtown Winnipeg) to the mouth of the Red River at Lake Winnipeg. This is the area where the English/Scottish retired Hudson's Bay Company servants generally settled.

Spelling
Over the years, Bungi has been spelled many different ways by many different people, and was often referred to simply as the Red River Dialect. Expanded scholarship has preferred "Bungi" as the preferred spelling over "Bungee" and other spellings.

Dialect
The name derives from either bangii, or pahkī, both words meaning a little bit. In these colloquial uses the term may have mildly pejorative connotations, even when used by speakers to describe themselves. Bungi is unusual as a dialect in that for the Scottish immigrants and the First Nations who developed the dialect, English was often a second language.

Language
Others, such as Brian Orvis, a Bungi-speaker from Selkirk, Manitoba, argued that Bungi is a language unto its own. He asserted that Bungee-speakers do not like to be recorded speaking the language because the First Nations values are that one should not call attention to oneself. It is because of this, he argues, that it is difficult to document Bungi, and the speakers will often deny knowledge of the language.

Name of a people
In addition to the being the name of a dialect, the word Bungi might have referred to a specific group of Métis of Scottish ancestry. The earliest records report that the name "Bungee" was used by the British, and especially Hudson's Bay Company employees to refer to the Saulteaux. Sometime around the turn of the 20th century, the word Bungi began to be used to refer to people of Scottish and First Nations ancestry.

Description
The most notable particularity of Bungi is its phonology (sound system and pronunciation). Voice quality differences are also apparent. The lexicon is mostly English with borrowings from Gaelic, Cree, Ojibwa, and other languages.

Several researchers have studied Bungi. Margaret Stobie studied Bungi and visited several communities where Bungi was spoken. In her 1971 article, The Dialect Called Bungi, Stobie reported that Bungi was the English dialect spoken by the descendants of Gaelic-speaking Highlanders. Blain conducted one of the most thorough academic studies of Bungi in her thesis and other publications, The Bungee Dialect of the Red River Settlement (1989). Blain's research found extremely negative attitudes to Bungi among the population which had spoken it in previous generations, a factor which likely contributed to its near extinction by the time of her research. The study records the dialect in its final phase, when considerable levelling towards standard Canadian English was present.

Bungi was spoken with a distinctive rhythm with a Gaelic fall, including the way that syllables are stressed, repetition of both nouns and pronouns in a sentence (e.g. "My brother is coming, him." ), changes in the pronunciation of phonemes (e.g. the phonemic distinction between [s] and [š] in not present in Western Cree dialects, and were reversed in Bungi from the standard English), etc. The third-person pronouns in Cree do not distinguish between masculine and feminine, which resulted in the interchangeable use of he and she in Bungi without regard for gender (e.g. "My wife he is going to the store." ). Bungee borrowed words and structures from the parent languages (e.g. the standard Bungee greeting of "I'm well, you but?" came directly from Cree). Bungi speakers also reported that Bungi uses Cree vowels and Scots consonants. It often uses Cree syntax.

Social context and extinction of Bungi as a spoken dialect
Prior to 1938, people were already expressing concerns about the potential loss of Bungi. In letters to the Winnipeg Evening Tribune, Mr. J. J. Moncrief, writing under the pen name "Old Timer," and Osborne Scott expressed their concerns about the survival of the Red River dialect. Others wrote in letters to the editor of the same newspaper in 1938 that Bungi would be gone in a generation.

In her thesis, The Bungee Dialect of the Red River Settlement (1989), Blain discusses the ways in which Bungi-speaking families were excluded (whether this was intentional discrimination by the community or because of reluctance on the part of the family is not known), including not having their family history included in local history books, being assigned to wash an enormous amount of dishes away from the festivities at events, people trying to hide their Indigenous ancestry, shame about how they sound when they spoke Bungi, etc. Blain also notes that Bungi was in a constant state of change that was evolving towards the local standard English.

Swan also reports the prejudice towards Bungi speakers in her thesis, Ethnicity and the Canadianization of Red River Politics (1991). She suggests that Anglo-Métis Manitoba Premier John Norquay, who was born near St. Andrews in what was the Red River Colony and would have spoken Bungi, had dropped his accent by the time that he had entered politics.

The social prejudice towards Bungi speakers and the very sensitive linguistic environment ultimately led to the extinction of this dialect.

Scholarship
The main linguistic documentation of this dialect were conducted by Eleanor M. Blain (1987, 1989 ), Francis "Frank" J. Walters (1969–1970, ), Margaret Stobie (1967–68, 1970, 1971 ) and Elaine Gold (2007, 2009 ). Osborne Scott also contributed to the understanding of Bungi (1937, 1951 ).

Example from J. J. Moncrieef article
In an article titled Red River Dialect published in 1936 under the pseudonym Old Timer (a nom de plume commonly used by J. J. Moncrieef who was from the Shetland Islands ), the author provided an excerpt from a letter that had some Bungi.

"I met a 'nattive' from down the river Clandeboye way yesterday on the streets. We chatted of 'ould' times. He relapsed into the lingo and I mentioned the number of fisherman caught on the ice. 'Yes,' he said, 'what a fun the peppers are having about it. I mind when I was a small saver, my faather and some of the byes round out the ice and sate, our nates. Ould One-Button sayed it was going to be cowld. I think me its the awnly time he was wrong, for by gos all quick like a southwaste wind come up and cracked the ice right off, and first thing quick like we were rite out in the lake whatever. It was a pretty ackward place to een, I tell you. The piece we were all on started rite away for the upsit side of the lake, away for Balsam Bay. We put of sales, blankets and buffalo robs to help us get there quicker like. When we hit the sore, we drov rite off the ice. One of the byes went chimmuck, be we got him out alrite.

We drove up to Selcrick on the cross side and crossed the rivver right at the gutway above St. Peters cherch. Oh yes, bye, we got hom alrite; we had to swim our harses. There was nothing in the pepper about it, whatever. We all had quite a funn about it at the dance that nite.

So long bye

P.S. I thought this would interest you in your ould age bye."

Examples from Osborne Scott's Red River Dialect article
Osborne Scott gave a talk on the radio at CKY on December 7, 1937, about Bungi (the talk was later published in the Winnipeg Evening Tribune on December 12, 1937, with the title Red River Dialect and again as a slightly longer article in 1951 in The Beaver, also with the title of Red River Dialect). "John James Corrigal and WIllie George Linklater were sootin the marse The canoe went apeechequanee. The watter was sallow watefer, but Willie George kept bobbin up and down callin 'O Lard save me.' John James was topside the canoe souted to Willie and sayed, 'Never min the Lard just now, Willie, grab for the willows.'"

Another story was recounted in the same article. "Willie Brass, Hudson's Bay Co. servant, was an Orkneyman who married an Eskimo woman in the north and retired to the Red River Settlement. He got home from the fort one night a little worse for wear with acute indigestion. He went to bed but kept waking, asking Eliza his wife for a drink of hot water saying 'Strick a lite, you'll see I'm dying Eliza, and get me a drink, I'm dying.' She did strike a light and got him hot water three or four times. Finally she got fed up and said to him, 'Awe Willie I'm just slocked it the lite. Can't you die the daark?'"

Scott also recounted a discussion that he had overheard. "I overheard this in our kitchen—the servant next door had come over to visit:

'Sit down girl Mary; you'll see I'll make a cup a tea.'

'Oh Eliza girl, I'll not can, I'm got to get hom.'

'Keeyam getting hom. Sit down. Take off your saul and I'll put on kettle.'

'Aw Eliza I'll not can—I'm got Jane Mary's bodice on and it'll not can meet.'"

Scott also recounted a discussion that he had been a part of. "Willie met me at the Selkirk station to drive me to St. Peter's rectory. This conversation ensued: 'come on boy, I'm got the horse tied upset the hotel.'

We were no sooner seated in the buggy than he started, 'Bye, did you hear about the elecsuns last week?'

'No Willie, Dominion, provincial or municipal?'

'Hell no, tsurch. I was runnin' for waarden. The meeting was in tsurch. Your father was in the tsair. Kilpun was running against me. Mind you boy, your faather was in the tsair. He was just about to take the vot when that fellow Kiplun got up. Oh that's Kiplun opting watter from the rivver he lives in that little house with the smok coming out of the chimney now. Yes mind you boy that fella Kiplun got right up in the meeting. Your faather boy was in the tsair and you know what Kiplun sayed? He sayed, 'Willie,'

' 'Yes, Kiplun.'

' 'What did you do with that coil oil?'

' 'What coil oil, Kiplun?'

' 'The coil oil you took out of the tsurch and barned in yore on hom.'

'By gos boy I lost the elecsun right there. By Jewpiter I'm got to hurry. Kiplun an me is going to the marse sootin this evening.'"

In the same article, Scott provided a few more examples and definitions of words:
 * " 'Bye me I kakatch [nearly] killed it two ducks with wan sot.' "
 * " 'Keeyam' meaning never mind, let it go. 'Girl Keeyam if you take my neechimos (sweetheart) I'll get me another whatefer!' "
 * " 'Chimmuck," one of those words whose sound suits the sense, represents the sound a stone makes when falling perpendicular into water, for instance, 'he fell off the rock chimmuck in lake.' "
 * " 'The canoe went apeechequanee and they went chimmuck,' apeechequanee meaning head over heels."
 * " 'I know by where there is a fine bus of neepinnans (high bush cranberries).' "
 * "Paper and pepper were pronounced 'pepper,' and you indicated whether it was eating or writing that you wanted."
 * "Some French words were incorporated in the dialect, as for instance, a trunk or box was a 'cassette.' "
 * "The Scots word 'byre' was always used instead of stable or cowshead."
 * "They never put out a fire or candle, it was always 'slocked.' "
 * " 'Mooneas' was one Cree word which was used to great effect by the native. It means greenhorn or newcomer."

Scott said that First Nations words were used in Bungi most often as "picturesque short words, generally exclamatory". In addition, the names of birds, animals, and plants were commonly First Nations words, as these things were new to the immigrants.

In a later, updated version of the article in 1951 that included parts of the original radio broadcast that were not in The Winnipeg Evening Tribune article, Osborne also told of a young Canon M. Sanderson learning to pronounce [s] and [š] under the tutelage of Rev. S. P. Matheson. When Sanderson was working with Rev. J. J. Anderson as his assistant, Anderson reported to Matheson that he had overdone it—instead of saying "God save the Queen," Sanderson had said "God shave the Queen." However, Sanderson would discredit this idea in a letter to the editor, called Canon Sanderson Drops into Red River Dialect in response to Osborne's 1937 article ad radio address, and also included some examples of words in Bungi.

Examples from letters in support of Osborne Scott
In a letter to the editor titled Aw, My Fer You, Osborne Scott!, an anonymous person using the pseudonym Bung-gay (a nom de plume for Islay Mary (Charles) Sinclair, who was said could not speak Bungi but rather imitate it from having lived in the community for a long time) wrote a letter to the editor in Bungi that Blain named the McBean Letter. The letter was in response to an irate letter titled Not Offensive to Red River Descendants about Scott's article submitted by Mrs. A. Kipling on January 7, 1938. Kipling felt that Scott had belittled and insulted the Bungi speakers of the Red River, when in fact Osborne and another contributor (likely Mr. J. J. Moncrieff under the pseudonym An Old Timer) were saddened by the vanishing of Bungi and that their children would not know the accents and dialect, and wanted to remember the humour as well. "Aw, my fer you, Osborne Scott, ye s'ould be properly as-s'améd of yerself, ye dirty tras', insultin' decent people from the Ruvver, dsust like as if ye aren't one yerself, in yer Englis' s'oes and tseckered suit, an' like as if ye never saw a byre yerself, or slocked a lantern!

Perhaps even you think ye're smaart, like a stupid ass, but when you to Tsarts on Sunday, you'll-see, the people'll be maarkin' at ye, and ye'll be wis'in' ye could go in hindside farmost, like as if you were insteppéd already!

Boy, whatever! When you were sittin' in a bott, fis'in' fer Dsack-fis' among the wullows on the Red Ruvver, you never thought some day ye'd be warkin' fer the P.C.R. an' sittin' opp-site Can-ay-dsens, did you?

Stop first, ye'll-see, I'm got in my green boax under the baid, pictsers s'owin' you playin' Cricket with a white peak-ed cap on yer heid, dsust like you were a dsentleman. But you got dsust as sock-sweated playin' a 'dsentleman's game' as ever ye did kickin' a stinkin'-hide football over a byre! 'Dsentleman's Game,' indeed! Aw-hoi fer you, Osborne Scott!

Lemme-see, you mind the time ye took me to a daance, in a boab-sleigh, an' ye were wearin' a biled sart and yer beef-hide s'oes, an' it was so cauld yer nozz started runnin' like a soogar-tree, an' I had to lawn ye my strippéd sas' to wipe it on! Good thing ye didn't take cauld that night, boy, an' be like Sall-ee, when they tole her ould man s'e died from want o' breath, he says: 'Oh, no, Boy!—s'e was breathen' when s'e died!' Or like yer poop Uncle, too, Boy—when he got cauld—one day he was alive, an' the next he was a caark!

I'm not got a fifty-cent-bit dsust no, Boy, but I'll bet a s'illin's warth o' sweeties at the karner staure that ye often think long o' th' ould Red Ruvver, an' wis'in' ye was back pickin' Tseepo nuts an' seekin' yer ould red cow 'wid spots-now-an'-agian'!

Aw-hoi, fer you! Osborne Scott, speakin' on the Raddio. I think me ye're dsust tryin' to s'ow off!"

In another letters to the editor in support of Scott, called Oldtimer Appreciates Osborne Scott's Article, Mary I. Kennedy contributed examples of Bungi: She also included a few stories of nicknames, such as a family by the name of Johnstone who were christened with "Teapot" for their addiction to tea, which was more familiar and seen as a distinguishing mark for them.
 * " 'I'll not can do it me, whatever but.' Expressive of utter impossibility."
 * " A man of the country was in the hospital for some time, and a friends called to see him. 'You got a garden, bye?' 'Eh! Eh! A fine garden and suts fine celery. Bye, you never seen suts fine celery. My faather's buried somewhere about here.' "
 * "Then John exclaimed 'Tgh high! (pronounced as in light) I nuvvur see such a what fur a ox."

Example from discussion of Victoria Cottage (Bunn House)
Another example of Bungi with a standard English translation is provided through Red River North Heritage as a part of their geocache work (this is for Site 1: Bunn's Road ). This is Rachel Bunn telling the story of how her husband, Thomas Bunn, built a stone house known as Victoria Cottage (which is now a historic site ). A modern recording of this being spoken is also available on the Red River North Heritage website. The exact origin of this text is not provided.

"Oh, aye, djust down the road, you know Oh, yes, just down the road

Aloang the ruvver By the river

Me Thomas thur built ma a hoose so solid he built it. My Thomas built me a solid house.

Twill aver stand foraver, aim thinkin! I'm sure it will stand forever, I think!

Siu(r) as me name is Rachel Bunn Sure as my name is Rachel Bunn.

Samuel Taylor put a handle on it een sixta-too ye-naw-see. Samuel Taylor put the finishing touches on it in 1862.

Every marnin back and fore he come across from the stone fort—he worked thur but. Every morning back and forth he came across the river from Lower Fort Garry, where he worked.

He built the English tsarts you know on the cross side. He built St Clements Mapleton church across the river.

Loang-headed is my Thomas Bunn is loang-headed. My Thomas Bunn is a visionary

Me hoose, mind dese wallis are stone and tree foot tick you know. My house, the walls are stone and three feet thick!

I's taired of the fluudis. I was tired of the floods.

Aye, so calm this ruvvers bein no, doon be fooled! So calm this Red River is but don't be fooled!

Come sprink this ruvvers hes a- vurra wicket Come spring the river is very ill-tempered!

Upsouth een Kildonan, and didn't thut ruvver nigh on took our hoose een the big fluud of fifta-too South of us, when we were upriver in Kildonan, the river nearly took our house in the big flood in 1852.

Mana people lost everythink. Many people lost everything.

Oh ma hairt ake-it! We fled maina males to the paines and had a sweet time. Oh the heart ache! We fled many miles to the high ground at Bird's Hill and had a difficult time.

Mind, tanks to my Thomas Bunn, fein and coomfortable we are sertently and saiventa foot haigh from the ruvver—we'll not fluid ere. Now thanks to Thomas we are certainly comfortable seventy feet above the river and will never flood again!"

The Shtory of Little Red Ridin Hood
D. A. Mulligan wrote the story of Little Red Riding Hood as it would have been told in Bungi, titled The Shtory of Little Red Ridin Hood.

Blain's thesis The Bungee Dialect of the Red River Settlement
In her thesis, The Bungee Dialect of the Red River Settlement, Eleanor Blain provides an extensive discussion on Bungi, with examples of words and phrases used in Bungi, as well as a transcription of Walters' story This is What I'm Thinkin as part of an appendix (both a linguistic version and a reading version).

Walters' Bungi audio collection
Frank Walters was a historian that was interested in preserving Bungi heritage. He conducted a study of Bungi, and made a series of recordings known as the Bungee Collection (also known as the Walters Collection).

Notable Bungi speakers
Manitoba Premier John Norquay

title: Bungi dialect


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User:Zakko

Some Wikipedia articles I have worked on

 * The Beatles
 * The Beatles discography
 * Let It Be (film)
 * "I'll Be on My Way"
 * "I Lost My Little Girl"
 * "That Would Be Something"
 * "Blue Jay Way"
 * "Get Back"
 * "Love Me Do"

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

title: User:Zakko


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Shooting at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's 10 metre running target

The men's 10 metre running target competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on 18 and 19 August at the Markópoulo Olympic Shooting Centre near Athens, Greece. Along with the women's double trap, this was the last Olympic competition in the event, before being removed from the program shortly after the Games.

The event consisted of two rounds: a qualifier and a final. In the qualifier, each shooter fired 60 shots with a running target at 10 metres distance. Scores for each shot were in increments of 1, with a maximum score of 10. The first 30 shots were in the slow-running stage, with series of 30 runs being shot within 5 seconds. The second set of 30 runs gave shooters 2.5 seconds to take each shot.

The top 6 shooters in the qualifying round moved on to the final round. There, they fired an additional 20 shots. These shots scored in increments of .1, with a maximum score of 10.9. They were fired in four series of 5 fast-running shots.

Despite a poor performance in the final, Germany's Manfred Kurzer held off a strenuous challenge from the Russian duo Aleksandr Blinov and 2002 World champion Dimitri Lykin to capture the gold medal with 682.4 points in a historic running target finale. Earlier, Kurzer set a new world record of 590, which had been added to the final score for an overall total, to grab a top seed in the prelims, augmenting two points from a global standard set by China's double Olympic champion Yang Ling in 2002. Meanwhile, Blinov took the silver at 678.0, while his fellow marksman Lykin locked the medal haul for the Russians in a 2–3 finish with a bronze-medal score of 677.1.

Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.


text: User talk:131.230.133.186

title: User talk:131.230.133.186


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Talk:1882

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The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 23:08, 18 May 2020 (UTC)
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Treaty between Uruguay and Paraguay
This page describes a peace treaty between Uruguay and Paraguay, but I can't find references to a treaty between these two nations in 1882. 96.238.30.85 (talk) 15:14, 23 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:1882


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User:Motorbikematt

Matthew F. Reyes is the producer of the Burning Man Webcast and a Product Manager for mobile gaming at Dolby Laboratories.

Learn more about me at my website: motorbikematt.com

title: User:Motorbikematt


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Jacob Vargas

Jacob Vargas (born August 18, 1971) is a Mexican-American actor, producer, and dancer.

Early life
Vargas was born in Michoacán, Mexico, and raised in Pacoima, Los Angeles, California. He was raised in a devout Roman Catholic family. He attended high school at San Fernando High School in San Fernando, California.

Career
Vargas has been a working actor for over thirty years.

In 1992, Vargas appeared in American Me. In 1995, Vargas won the very first ALMA Award (for Emerging Artist of the Year) for his work in both Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca, and Gregory Nava's My Family. In 1995, Vargas would appear in Get Shorty. In 1997, Vargas appeared in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. In 1999, Vargas became the voice of Max Steel.

In 2000, Vargas played Benicio del Toro's partner Manolo in director Steven Soderbergh's drug trafficking pic Traffic, which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award and another ALMA Award. The same year he also played the Joker from the Joker Brothers in the Next Friday. He played A.B. Quintanilla, the brother of the late Tejano singer Selena in the biopic film of the same name. In 2002, Vargas would play Caesar Chavez in FX Network's film RFK. In 2004, Vargas played Sammy the chef in John Moore's Flight of the Phoenix.

In 2005, Vargas co-starred with Paul Walker and Laurence Fishburne in The Death and Life of Bobby Z. and also played Marine sniper Cortez in Sam Mendes' war drama Jarhead. In 2006, Vargas played a politically charged busboy in Emilio Estevez's historical drama Bobby. In 2010, Vargas played Ramirez, a building security officer, in Devil. 2011, Vargas played the father of Water Enrique Murciano and Power Nicholas Gonzalez in this true story.

From 2013 to 2014, Vargas played Montez on two seasons of Sons of Anarchy and six episodes of Mayans M.C.

In 2014, Vargas played Richard Chavez opposite Michael Peña in the biopic Cesar Chavez directed by Diego Luna.

In 2015, Vargas played Edison "Elvis" Peña in the film The 33, It is the true story of the 33 Chilean miners that were trapped for 69 days.

In 2016, Vargas reoccurred as Domingo Colon in the Netflix series Luke Cage. In 2016, Vargas also reoccurred in Colony, Amazon Studio's Hand of God and he co-stars in Hulu's Crushed. In 2019, Vargas co-starred in Max Carlson's Princess of the Row opposite Martin Sheen and Ana Ortiz. He also co-starred in Peel.

From 2019 to 2020, Vargas was a regular on the Netflix series Mr. Iglesias.

In 2020, Jacob Vargas and Justina Machado were Masters of Ceremonies at the National Hispanic Media Coalition Impact Awards.

Personal life
He is married to Sylvia Arzate. They have two daughters, Rosa, born in 2004 and Victoria, born in 2011. Vargas has four brothers and one sister.

title: Jacob Vargas


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User talk:SiOfUmbar

Hi! :) Thank you for adding "Sue" to the list, very much appreciated. :) Func( t, c, @,) 19:50, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:SiOfUmbar


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User:Tstockma

Introduction

I am tstockma, aka Tom Stockman, an IT guy and technology geek of long standing. I bounce between Denver and Colorado Springs on the Colorado Front Range, and frequently find myself in the spectacular Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I hike the peaks of these beautiful mountains, I search out the secluded streamside camping sites, I explore the highways and dirt roads of Colorado's high country. I currently am the marketing director for one of Colorado's oldest and biggest tourism web directories.

Taking a Break
Sometime in early June 2006, I will be taking an extended break from online activity, possibly until fall of 2006.

United States Air Force

I began my career as an enlisted man in the United States Air Force. In 1978 I wrote a computer display program for the giant wall screens in the underground Strategic Air Command Headquarters at Offutt AFB in Omaha, Nebraska...the program compared reports from NORAD of incoming nuclear missiles to the actual electronic feeds from the various RADAR and satellite detection systems.

In 1979 and 1980, several incidents occurred where NORAD at Cheyenne Mountain reported the USA was under nuclear missile attack, due to at least two different erroneous causes. Until that time, NORAD's reports were regarded as sacrosant; having the direct feeds from the detection systems may have prevented the USA from starting a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union and World War III.

It's a very amazing story. Part of the U.S.'s bomber fleet was off the ground for safety's sake, circling in the air, awaiting orders to start their bombing runs on the Soviet Union.

If I hadn't written that program, someone else would have been given and completed the same assignment. We at the core of that shop were a talented bunch.

I was also selected as the SAC Outstanding Airman Of The Year in 1980.

Current Career and Life
I've lived in Denver or Colorado Springs since 1983, as a computer programmer. I love the Rocky Mountains and spend a lot of time up in them thar hills. I also webmaster several websites.

In addition to my love of Colorado's Rocky Mountains, I am passionate about music of many genres, downhill and cross-country skiing, Sci-Fi, container gardening, aquaria, The Little Bear, overclocking AMD computers, Corvairs, and sometimes running audio soundboards for small bands as a thumb-fingered amateur.

I have also recently been on a kick as an amateur historian of Colorado's mining days, writing articles for a web site and updating wikipedia entries on that subject, especially on WP about Colorado's eastern plains.

Wikipedia Contributions
I've used wikipedia for years as a research source, but only started editing pages in 2005. Pages that I either authored or made significant changes to are:

 * Web Application Structure for PHP
 * U.S. Highway 285
 * Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
 * Colorado Springs, Colorado
 * Kiowa County, Colorado
 * Crowley County, Colorado
 * Chivington, Colorado
 * Sand Creek Massacre
 * Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
 * First Colorado Cavalry
 * Fort Lyon
 * Omaha Easter Sunday Tornado (1913)
 * Battle of the Basque Roads
 * James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier
 * 666 (The Apocalypse Of John,13/18)
 * Creatures of Light and Darkness

title: User:Tstockma


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Jesse Winchester

James Ridout "Jesse" Winchester Jr. (May 17, 1944 – April 11, 2014) was an American-Canadian musician and songwriter. He was born and raised in the southern United States. Opposed to the Vietnam War, he moved to Canada in 1967 to avoid being drafted into the US military while the US engaged in the Vietnam War and began his career as a solo artist. His highest-charting recordings were of his own songs, "Yankee Lady" in 1970 and "Say What" in 1981. He became a Canadian citizen in 1973, gained amnesty in the U.S. in 1977 and resettled in Memphis, Tennessee in 2002.

Winchester was best known as a songwriter. His songs were recorded by many notable artists, including Patti Page, Elvis Costello, Jimmy Buffett, Joan Baez, Jerry Garcia, Anne Murray, The Weather Girls, Reba McEntire, the Everly Brothers, Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris, George Strait, Gary Allan, Willie Nelson, Jennifer Warnes, The Mavericks and Michael Stanley. A number of these recordings achieved positions on various charts.

Early life
Winchester was born at Barksdale Army Air Field, near Bossier City, Louisiana, United States, and raised in northern Mississippi through age 12, when his family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee. Winchester was one of three children born to James Ridout Winchester Sr. (1917–1962) and Frances Ellyn Manire Winchester (1920–2010). In 1952, a heart attack left his father unable to farm. Through his father's side, he is part of the Lee family of Virginia (Henry Lee II and Richard Henry Lee were two of his 4th-great-grandfathers). He graduated from Christian Brothers High School in Memphis in 1962 as a merit finalist, a National Honor Society member and the salutatorian of his class. He graduated from Williams College, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, in 1966. Upon receiving his draft notice the following year, Winchester moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to avoid being drafted into the US military while the US was involved in a war with Vietnam. "I was so offended by someone's coming up to me and presuming to tell me who I should kill and what my life was worth," he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1977.

Winchester began playing guitar in bands while still in high school. He played in Germany during college study abroad and after graduation. Upon arriving in Quebec in 1967, he joined a local band, Les Astronautes. He also began writing songs, which he performed as a solo artist at the Montreal Folk Workshop and at coffeehouses throughout eastern Canada, adding impetus to a revival in folk music that was taking place across Canada. Under the auspices of the Band's Robbie Robertson, another Canadian, Winchester began his recording career in 1970 with a self-titled album released on the Ampex label.

Career
Winchester released several albums during the 1970s. Because of his status as a draft-evader, entailing that he was subject to arrest had he entered the country, he was unable to tour in the United States, and he became recognized primarily as a songwriter. His best-known songs include "Yankee Lady", "The Brand New Tennessee Waltz", "Mississippi, You're on My Mind", "A Showman's Life","Biloxi", "That's a Touch I Like", and "Every Word You Say". These and others have been recorded by numerous artists. His 1970 recording of his song "Black Dog" preceded the release of Led Zeppelin's different song of the same name by a year.

In 1974, Winchester often performed at the Hotel Le Chatelet in Morin Heights, Quebec, run by several expatriate Tennesseans who had come to Canada in 1972. David "Butch" McDade and Jeff "Stick" Davis moved to Quebec to become part of Jesse Winchester and the Rhythm Aces. Winchester was the first to record the songs "Third Rate Romance" and "The End Is Not in Sight", both written by Russell Smith. Smith traveled to Montreal to assist in the recording of the album Learn to Love It at Studio Six. Smith, Davis and McDade later were original members of the Amazing Rhythm Aces.

Upon his election in 1976, President Jimmy Carter declared he would grant amnesty to draft evaders, except those who had deserted or had become citizens of another country. Winchester had by then become a Canadian citizen, but Barry Bozeman, his manager at the time, convinced Carter on Winchester's behalf to broaden the amnesty.

Winchester's first appearance in the U.S. was a sold-out performance in Burlington, Vermont, on April 21, 1977. On June 10 he appeared alongside Little Feat, Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt on Burt Sugarman's The Midnight Special.

In 1981, he had his first (and only) Top 40 U.S. hit single, "Say What". (No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100). The single was from his Bearsville Records album release, "Talk Memphis".

"I'm Gonna Miss You, Girl", written by Winchester, was recorded by American country music artist Michael Martin Murphey and released in October 1987, as the lead single from the album River of Time. The song peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and at number 4 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart. The version recorded by Murphy omits the somewhat sadder second part of the song. Winchester's version is on his album Love Filling Station.

Later career
Winchester was nominated for the Best Country Male Vocalist award at the Juno Awards of 1990. In 2002, he moved back to the United States, settling in Memphis with his girlfriend, Cindy. That year, his song "Step by Step", from the album Let the Rough Side Drag, was used as background music for the montage that ended the first season of the television program The Wire. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 2007. Winchester continued to record and perform throughout the United States and Canada, releasing his tenth studio album, Love Filling Station, in 2009.

In 2011, Winchester was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus and underwent treatment for the next couple of months. He was later given a clean bill of health from his doctor and resumed touring. Quiet About It, a tribute record to Winchester, was released in 2012, featuring James Taylor, Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Rosanne Cash and Jimmy Buffett, who spearheaded the project, among others.

In April 2014, it was revealed that Winchester was gravely ill and receiving hospice care at his home, in Charlottesville, Virginia. He died there on the morning of April 11, 2014, aged 69, from bladder cancer. He is survived by his wife, Cindy and three children from a previous marriage: James, Alice and Marcus Lee.

Winchester's final CD, A Reasonable Amount of Trouble, was released in September 2014, with liner notes by his friend Jimmy Buffett. It was nominated for two Grammy awards. Rolling Stone called it "a gentle collection of playful songs about love, memory and gratitude that amounts to one of the most moving, triumphant albums of Winchester's 45 year career."

title: Jesse Winchester


text:
User:Hypnotic31

This page is currently a work in progress... but then again, aren't we all?

title: User:Hypnotic31


text: Category:Law enforcement in Slovenia

title: Category:Law enforcement in Slovenia


text:
Halfords

Halfords Group PLC is a UK retailer of motoring and cycling products and services. Through Halfords Autocentre, they provide vehicle servicing, MOT, maintenance and repairs in the United Kingdom.

Halfords Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

History
Halfords was founded by Frederick Rushbrooke, in Birmingham in 1892, as a wholesale ironmongery. The company takes its name from Halford Street, named after the physician, Henry Halford, in Leicester, where Rushbrooke opened a store in 1902 and started selling cycling goods.

Halfords opened its two hundredth store in 1931, and purchased the Birmingham Bicycle Company in 1945. It opened its three hundredth store in 1968. The company became a part of Burmah Oil in 1965, following a takeover battle between Burmah and Smiths Industries.

The company was acquired by the Ward White Group in 1983, from whom the Boots Group acquired it in 1989. Halfords was later demerged from the Boots Group in 2002.

Halfords was taken over by CVC Capital Partners in July 2003 and, in June 2004, it was floated on the London Stock Exchange.

Halfords rebranded in February 2003, to the black and orange logo it has today.

Halfords entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Autobacs Seven Co. on 11 July 2005, a Japan based car accessory retailer with chains of stores all over the world and is best known for being the title sponsor of Super GT and D1 Grand Prix.

Autobacs acquired 5% (11,400,000 shares) of the company on 13 December 2005, at approximately ¥7.5 billion.

Halfords opened its first shop in Central Europe in June 2007, in a village near Prague. In the next two years, it opened five more stores in the Czech Republic and one in Poland (Wrocław, 2008). Expansion into Central Europe was seen as an opportunity, because the cars on the road tend to be slightly older there, so people would be more adept at car maintenance.

In March 2010, Halfords ceased its international expansion to refocus on the domestic market.

In February 2010, the company announced its expansion into autocare and that it was acquiring the chain Nationwide Autocentre MOT from private equity firm Phoenix. As of July 2024, there are over 250 garages branded Halfords Autocentre, providing MOTs, car repairs and servicing.

In June 2014, Halfords acquired the British bicycle manufacturer Boardman Bikes Ltd. (founded by the professional cyclist Chris Boardman, Sarah Mooney and Alan Ingarfield) for an undisclosed sum.

Halfords acquired Swansea based Tredz Bikes, an online retailer of premium bikes and cycling accessories, and Wheelies, the largest provider of bicycle replacement for insurance companies in the United Kingdom, for £18.4m, from founders Keith and Michael Jones, on 24 May 2016.

In 2019, CEO Graham Stapleton announced he was placing greater focus on growing Halford's motoring services business. In November 2019, Halfords acquired McConechy’s garages in Scotland and Tyres on the Drive mobile tyre fitting service. In March 2021, the business acquired Universal Tyres and Garages.

In December 2021, Halfords acquired rival tyres and auto-care chain National Tyres and Autocare for £62m.

in October 2022, Halfords announced it had acquired the UK commercial tyre business, Lodge Tyre Company for £37.2m.

Operations
Since 2010, Halfords Retail has operated around 465 stores, of which about 22 are in the Republic of Ireland, and the others in the United Kingdom.

As of June 2021, Halfords has 404 stores, 3 Performance Cycling stores (trading as Tredz and Giant), 374 garages (trading as Halfords Autocentres, McConechys and Universal Tyres and Autocentres) and 143 mobile service vans (trading as Halfords Mobile Expert and Tyres on the Drive) and 192 Commercial vans.

Sponsorship
In 1987, Halfords sponsored the team of Professional Road Cycling, ANC Halfords, and that year, entered the Tour de France. However, the team ran out of money, at the end of the season, and officially disbanded.

The company returned as a major sponsor of British Touring Car Championship for the 2002 season, partnering with Vic Lee Racing to sponsor its bright orange Peugeot 406 Coupé cars.

When VLR's efforts to make the grid in 2004 fell through, Halfords switched allegiance to Team Dynamics, sponsoring Matt Neal and Dan Eaves. In 2005 and 2006, Neal brought Halfords title glory, winning the overall drivers' titles. The company remained loyal to Team Dynamics thereafter, returning as a BTCC sponsor in 2016 with Team Dynamics, resulting in another title success with Gordon Shedden. Halfords remained in the BTCC until the end of the 2022 season, before parting ways with Team Dynamics ahead of the 2023 BTCC.

In January 2008, Halfords started sponsoring a mixed professional bike team, Team Halfords Bikehut, headed by Nicole Cooke.

Halfords announces a 15 month partnership to sponsor ITV National Weather from October 2018.

Cycle Republic
In November 2014, Halfords announced it was going to revive its Cycle Republic chain of specialist bicycle stores, primarily focused on urban cycling and commuting, which is reflected in the brand's styling. The first store was opened in London, on 12 December 2014. The company's shop estate twenty two shops, and an ecommerce website operation offering an extended product range, as well as financing options.

The company's flagship store in Canary Wharf was opened by Olympian, Victoria Pendleton, in January 2018.

Cycle Republic sponsored the racing team, Morvélo Basso, for 2018. The company also provides event support at cyclo sportives around the country, including Etape Loch Ness, Palace2Palace and Velo Birmingham. The company announced a new, strategic partnership with the folding bike manufacturer Brompton, in the end of 2018.

title: Halfords


text:
User:ParisPynchon

Welcome!
Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page.
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Again, welcome!
 * Barrettmagic 19:52, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

title: User:ParisPynchon


text:
Talk:Greater India

East asia
Should east asian countries such as China and Japan also be added? They are all buddhist regions, and buddhist culture and philosophy is deeply engrained in their society. Wikediter.fact (talk) 05:43, 9 August 2023 (UTC)

 * I am going to add them.
 * This article has a sort-of Pakistan-centric bias so I would like some more editors to also bias out the "bias" so to speak. CheetasOnMission (talk) 11:34, 14 May 2024 (UTC)

Indianization of China
regarding your additions diff, and my revert diff, I think this addition is symptomatic (in bold):

"The complete Indianization of China itself" is eye-rolling; how can you imagine something like that? Joshua Jonathan -  Let's talk!  12:08, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

 * But I just wrote what the cited sources had said. The source is WP:RS Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 12:10, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Moreoever why did you remove the "Buddhism in central Asia" section? I will give attribution to the article where I derived it from. Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 12:14, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Why are you reverting my edits? When the sources I quoted clearly talks about Indianization of China. I even quoted an entire book which briefly talks about this. Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 15:59, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

 * You're taking phrases out of context, and present them as if China became some sort of clone of India. Moreover, you do this in the lead, which is supposed to summarize the article, which is clearly not the case here. The phrase "Indianization of China" has most significantly been used by Hu Shi, in a polemical way, to object against the uncritical borrowing of Indian cultural elements. That begs for an explanation, if it is due, and it certainly is not fit for a prominent place in the lead. Joshua Jonathan  -  Let's talk!  16:05, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I am citing what historians have said. The entire book which I cited talks about the indianization of China quite clearly. But yes, In case If you don't want it in the lead, I can make a seperate east Asian section for this? Where I will write about Spread of Buddhism in China and japan with WP:RS sources. Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 16:10, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

 * And how does that book speak about the "Indianization of China"? Any idea? Joshua Jonathan  -  Let's talk!  16:17, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * i quoted page no. As far as I remember.
 * But can I create "Spread of Buddhism in east asia"
 * And "Spread of Buddhism in central Asia" section? Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 16:19, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

 * You don't seem to understand that "Greater India" and "Indianization" are obsolete terms, used in some Indian scholarship with nationalist tendencies from the 1920s to the 1970s, but since then have fallen out of favor with mainstream historians. While there were a few historians during this period that proposed the inclusion of China and Japan, those proposals were not accepted by the mainstream and are considered fringe views that are no longer taken seriously in current historical scholarship. The idea that Indianization included China and Japan is WP:FRINGE. The fact that you can find a source or two does not refute this. Skyerise (talk) 18:19, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * The cited sources are clearly WP:RS which includes Japan and China as "Indianized".
 * Moreover the map you showed is an expansion of Hinduism (Not indian culture sphere as whole)
 * Though my request was to just make sections regarding Spread of Buddhism in central Asia and East Asia, Because the article deals with Indian culture/religions. Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 18:46, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

 * This map shows the historically accepted range of "Indianization" and "Greater India". As you can clearly see, it does not come anywhere near Japan. Skyerise (talk) 18:30, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Please also note that we already have an article on the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism, which is a different topic not normally included in the idea of Greater India, which is a term specifically related to the transmission of Hinduism. Skyerise (talk) 18:49, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes but this article itself is dealing with the spread of Indian religions/culture/language. This is why I had a request to make a section for "Spread of Buddhism in central Asia" and "Spread of Buddhism in east asia" Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 18:53, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * But the term "Greater India" is defined as the spread of Hinduism - not Buddhism. We don't need sections here. It is all covered at Silk Road transmission of Buddhism. It doesn't get repeated out of context and against the accepted definitions here. Skyerise (talk) 18:58, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * No? The term greater India is defined with the spread of all Indian religions, Be it Hinduism or Buddhism
 * So shouldn't it be in the lead? Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 19:01, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * No it isn't and no it shouldn't. You just need to stay in your own lane. I'm about to ask for you to be topic-banned at ANI because you refuse to listen. Skyerise (talk) 19:03, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Did I violate any rules? Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 19:05, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Yes, you are. You are pushing obsolete nationalist fringe views which are not accepted by current scholarship. Skyerise (talk) 19:06, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Well I just requested to make sections for spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and East asia. But okay, I will stop here if it seems like that. Malik-Al-Hind (talk) 19:08, 1 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Did you read the archives? Like most articles, the archives show that this kind of discussion has already happened and the current state of the article is due to the consensus that the sources do not support such an inclusion. China has been discussed several times previously and its inclusion has been rejected due to lack of sources that directly connect the expansion of the Buddhism into China with the term "Greater India", which is after all the subject of the article - a technical term used in a particular period and genre of historical works, not the "general idea" that we can coatrack anything into by claiming it means "anything Indian ideas may have touched, however indirectly". That's not the definition of the term. Skyerise (talk) 19:44, 1 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Greater India


text:
User:M. J. Cooper

I am nearing completion of a philosophy degree from Furman University.

In the summer of 2005 (as I am writing this) I am an intern at The Heartland Institute, and that was the subject of my first edit.

title: User:M. J. Cooper


text:
Nexus Ops

Nexus Ops is a board game, designed by Charlie Catino and released in 2005 by Avalon Hill.

Players attempt to mine the fictitious metal "rubium" on a moon far off in space. Each player uses rubium to recruit units to mine and fight for the player. Players can employ humans, as well as fungoids, crystallines, rock striders, lava leapers, and rubium dragons. Each creature has a different attack value, and some of them have special abilities. The goal is to get 12 victory points, which are obtained by winning battles and accomplishing secret missions. The number of victory points can be changed to make for a longer or shorter game.

The board consists of three homebase hexes for each player, in addition to nineteen hexes outside of the players' homebases. The hex in the center of the board is always the "monolith" (an elevated cardboard structure) which can give a player bonuses and serves to give the game something of a king-of-the-hill flavor.

The modular board (along with randomly placed exploration tiles) serves to give the game a somewhat randomized feel, although the composition of the board tiles restricts their placement in some manners.

Fantasy Flight Games released a reprint of Nexus Ops in January 2012. The reprint contains a modified rule book which contains many new optional rules and ways to play.

title: Nexus Ops


text:
User:JRVJ

Welcome!
Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page.
 * The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
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 * Editing, policy, conduct, and structure tutorial
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 * How to write a great article
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 * Manual of Style
 * Merging, redirecting, and renaming pages
 * If you're ready for the complete list of Wikipedia documentation, there's also Topical index.

Again, welcome!
 * Barrettmagic 19:54, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

title: User:JRVJ


text:
Talk:Corporate development

This page should have Annual_Giving merged into it after that article is cleaned up for bias and accuracy. I will work on this. --Drew 19:54:25, 2005-08-18 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060209104940/http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/tln/exec_team/scheinman/perspectives.html to http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/tln/exec_team/scheinman/perspectives.html

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title: Talk:Corporate development


text:
File:Jack pumpkinhead cover.jpg

Description
Cover of Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson, illustrated by John R. Neill.

Non-free/fair use media rationale in Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz
Although this image is subject to copyright, it is covered by US fair use laws because:
 * 1) The image is only being used in the article about the book (Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz) for informational and educational purposes.
 * 2) Use of the book cover visually identifies the book and its author in a manner that mere prose cannot, and meets all criteria in WP:NFCC.
 * 3) This image enhances the article in which it's displayed, as it provides an immediate relevance to the reader more capably than the textual description alone.
 * 4) The image is not replaceable with an uncopyrighted or freely copyrighted image of comparable educational value.
 * 5) The image is the primary means of visual identification of the article topic.
 * 6) The image is a low resolution image of the book cover, in an inferior graphics format (JPEG).
 * 7) The image is only a small portion of the commercial product.
 * 8) The use of this image will not affect the value of the original work.
 * 9) The use of this image will not limit the copyright holder's rights or ability to distribute or make a profit from the original. In particular, copies could not be used to make illegal copies of the book.

title: File:Jack pumpkinhead cover.jpg


text:
Welsh Baccalaureate

The Welsh Baccalaureate (Bagloriaeth Cymru), or Welsh Bacc, is an educational qualification delivered in secondary schools and colleges across Wales. The Welsh Government says that it gives broader experiences than traditional learning programmes, developing transferable skills useful for education and employment. The Welsh Bacc is offered at Advanced (level 3), National (level 2) Foundation (level 1) and National/Foundation level, and is studied alongside a range of academic and vocational qualifications.

The new Welsh Baccalaureate was introduced for teaching from September 2015 and was designed and developed in response to the findings of the 2012 Review of Qualifications for 14 to 19 year-olds in Wales. The primary aim is to enable learners to develop and demonstrate an understanding of, and proficiency in, essential and employability skills: Communication, Numeracy, Digital Literacy, Planning and Organisation, Creativity and Innovation, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, and Personal Effectiveness.

The new Welsh Baccalaureate differs from the legacy Baccalaureate (first made available across Wales in 2007 and last awarded in 2016) in both content and structure, most noticeably with the inclusion of the Skill Certificate Challenge qualification which can also be awarded independently of the WB. WJEC is the awarding body for the Welsh Baccalaureate.

Award from 2015
The Welsh Bacc is awarded at the following levels:

 * National/Foundation (levels 1 & 2) A two-year course delivered at key stage 4 to provide a vehicle for 14–16 year-olds to consolidate and develop essential and employability skills. Should the supporting General Certificates of Secondary Education (GCSEs) be graded A*-C the students will awarded the National level, if the supporting GCSES are graded A-G, students will be awarded the Welsh Bacc at Foundation level.
 * Foundation – Level 1 A one-year course delivered at post-16 stage in the context and level of the chosen learning programme.
 * National – Level 2 A one-year course delivered at post-16 stage for Level 2 learners.
 * Advanced - Level 3 A two-year course delivered at post-16 stage for Level 3 learners.

Legacy structure and requirements
The legacy Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification, which was last awarded in 2016, consists of two parts – a compulsory Core and a choice of Options, which are made up of optional subjects or qualifications which the student may be following. Together, the Core and Options make up the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification. Options are the courses/programmes currently studied by the student alongside the Core e.g. General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced (AS / A levels), BTec, Principal Learning. The Options requirements depend on the level of the Welsh Baccalaureate being followed. The Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma attracts 120 UCAS (university entry) points, the same as an A grade in an A Level subject. The awarding organisation for the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification is WJEC. The structure of the Welsh Baccalaureate Core is the same at all three levels and consists of:

 * Essential Skills Wales/Key Skills qualifications (Exact requirements depend on the level followed)
 * Wales, Europe and the World (WEW)
 * Personal and Social Education (PSE)
 * Work-related Education (WRE)- work experience and a team enterprise activity
 * Community Participation
 * Language Module
 * Individual Investigation (Exact requirements depend on the level followed)

Developments
The Welsh Baccalaureate began in September 2003 as a pilot scheme involving 18 schools and colleges in Wales. The qualification was rolled out to centres across Wales in September 2007. By September 2012, 75,000 learners in 240 schools, colleges and work based learning centres were registered for the Welsh Baccalaureate courses. The Welsh Bac has become a familiar part of the educational landscape in Wales with all colleges and only a small minority of schools not delivering at least one level of the qualification.

Review of Qualifications for 14- to 19-year-olds in Wales
In the Review of Qualifications consultation document, published on 31 May 2012, the Review Board considered that the Welsh Bac was making an important contribution to the education of over 73,000 learners in Wales. The consultation document noted that 'The Board is currently of the view that the Welsh Baccalaureate has both relevance and value, that it should be further developed and promoted, and that eventually it should be universally adopted at 14–19 across Wales.

The consultation went on to say "Feedback to the Review has been largely positive about the Welsh Baccalaureate. Stakeholders like its use of established qualifications in its options, the development of skills (including testing aspects of literacy and numeracy) in its Core, together with elements valued by employers and universities such as work experience, community participation and independent research."

Grading
The Qualifications Review Board has proposed that the Welsh Baccalaureate should be graded at the Advanced level to maintain its currency for higher education admission and to ensure that learners' differing achievements are properly recognised. The Review Board indicated that further views would be canvassed about whether the Intermediate and Foundation levels should be graded.

Current levels of achievement
Figures released by the awarding organisation WJEC in August 2012 reported that a total of 8,259 candidates were awarded the Advanced Diploma, compared with 6,948 in 2011, the highest entry to date for this qualification. This represented 83% of those who completed the course. The successful candidates achieved at least two A levels or equivalent academic or vocational qualifications, as well as meeting the requirements of the Welsh Baccalaureate Core, including gaining Essential Skills Wales (ESW, and Key Skills (KS) and personal development modules.

Having met the full range of requirements of the Core components, 8,747 or 88% of the candidates who completed the course achieved the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Core Certificate.

In 2012, a record 7,210 or 73% of candidates achieved the Welsh Baccalaureate Intermediate Diploma, compared with 67% in 2011. The number of candidates completing the programme also rose to 9,940, an increase of 3,937 or 66% on 2011. A further 990 candidates achieved the Welsh Baccalaureate Core Certificate.

At Foundation level, 3,521 candidates completed the programme, an increase of 23% compared with 2,858 last year. Of these, 2,236 or 64% achieved the Foundation Diploma, compared with 1,873 or 66% last year. A further 279 candidates achieved the Core Certificate at the Foundation level.

Academic research
Research on the Welsh Baccalaureate has been generally positive. The University of Bath were the internal evaluators and produced a number of reports evaluating the development of the Welsh Baccalaureate. A Final Report of the External Evaluation of the Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification (WBQ) Pilot was also carried out by the University of Nottingham. Both internal and external evaluations were largely positive, emphasising the positive impact of the Welsh Bac in broadening the learner experience.

Estyn reports on the Advanced Level (2012) and the Welsh Bac in Key Stage 4 in schools (2008, were generally positive about the impact of the qualification, although there were some concerns about the differences in quality of delivery in Welsh Bac centres.

In 2009, the Nuffield Foundation funded a Review of 14–19 Education and Training in which the Welsh Bac was praised. The report calls for a baccalaureate system for secondary schools; asks why many young people drop out of education and training in their late teens; and offers contrasts between England's approach to school reform and that which has operated in Wales since Devolution. Among the Review's recommendations was that "England should learn from the Welsh attempts to incorporate in its 'Learning Pathways' a broader and more flexible vision of progression." The Review supports the continued development of the Welsh Baccalaureate so that it becomes the organising framework for all 14 – 19 learners in Wales.

The current affairs programme 'Dragon's Eye' broadcast 1 May 2012, reported on work published by Chris Taylor and colleagues at Wales Institute of Social & Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD) based at Cardiff University. Taylor's work suggested that the performance of Welsh Bac qualified students did not match their apparent A level points score. One explanation is that since the Welsh Bac is ungraded, students who pass it cover a wide range of abilities and ability is known to be a strong predictor of success at university. Taylor commented "This suggests that the WBQ would benefit from being graded." He added "Our findings also raise a concern about the overall quality of the WBQ and whether there are any apparent benefits of this qualification on university progress and outcomes." The conclusions in the Report were however qualified by a recognition of the limitations of the analysis. Taylor added "We would not want to argue that the WBQ is systematically worth less than an A grade at A Level. And indeed, rejecting the use of the WBQ in helping to determine entry and conditional offers ignores the 'opportunity cost' for a student of not having taken another qualification or A Level."

Following the publication of the Report, Cardiff University clarified their position regarding Welsh Baccalaureate applicants. The 2012–13 prospectus states that "Cardiff University accepts the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma for admission to all its undergraduate degree programmes. If you are taking the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma, and the University decides to make you an offer for study on any of its programme, the offer will be based on a pass in the Core plus specified grades and subjects, where applicable, in the Options."

In 2004, UCAS confirmed that the Advanced Level would attract 120 UCAS points. The 2009 Expert Group Report for Review of Award in the UCAS Tariff confirmed the award of 120 UCAS tariff points for the Welsh Baccalaureate Advanced Diploma.

In 2018, Welsh exams watchdog Qualifications Wales said the skills at the heart of the qualification were highly relevant for future study and employment, but that the Welsh Baccalaureate is too complex and a number of pupils, teachers and parents do not understand it.

Debate
In 2002, Colin Jenkins and John David, who developed the original Welsh Baccalaureate proposal for the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA), criticised the Welsh Bac because it did not follow their model, based on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. They said they were disappointed and considered the Welsh Bac to be "missing a huge opportunity." They considered the WBQ to be a "feeble quick fix", "not a baccalaureate", and as "Curriculum 2000 with a bit of icing". They added that the language requirement was "a waste of time."

Jane Davidson, Welsh Government Minister for Education, Lifelong Learning & Skills from 2000 to 2007, responded to the pair's criticism by stating that the Welsh Baccalaureate is "a significant innovation which will broaden students' programmes and bring coherence to them. The programme will be distinctive, modern and proudly Welsh." She explained that "The contract to design and deliver the Welsh baccalaureate was awarded following a tender process... In the event we received no tenders based on the IWA model." Jeff Jones, chair of the WJEC when it bid for and developed the WBQ, stated in 2011 that he thought at the time that the WBQ "looked like nonsense" but that the WJEC "needed the money and in any case we had to bid because we were the Welsh exam board". Jones added that the WBQ was "really an A level with a load of nonsense added on" and added: “It isn’t a proper Bac where students at 18 would still be required to study maths, English, a science and a language, not meaningless Mickey Mouse additions. What the heck is the use of ‘Wales and the World’ for a start? No wonder Russell Group universities who can get students from England with four A stars are not that interested. If I were a student I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole." The University of Leeds, which is ranked 2nd in the United Kingdom in the Russell Group, does not accept Welsh Baccalaureate. Most Welsh secondary schools mandate their 6th form students study the Welsh Baccalaureate alongside their A Level studies insisting it's a compulsory subject that "compliments" a students learning experience. However, Mr Jones' comments were challenged by David Evans, Wales Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, who said: “I am surprised Jeff Jones has come out and made these statements several years after the event. If that’s what he thought at the time, he should hang his head in shame for putting in a bid from the WJEC to run the Welsh Bac. Making these comments now smacks of scaremongering.”

title: Welsh Baccalaureate


text:
Zoe Slater

Zoe Slater is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Michelle Ryan. She made her first appearance on 18 September 2000. Zoe arrives in Walford along with her father, Charlie (Derek Martin), sisters Kat (Jessie Wallace), Lynne (Elaine Lordan), Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth), and grandmother Big Mo (Laila Morse).

It later emerges that Zoe is in fact Kat's daughter, and a product of incest after Kat was raped by her uncle Harry (Michael Elphick) in 1983, and Zoe was legally adopted by Kat's parents, Charlie and Viv. This was nominated for Best Storyline at the British Soap Awards, as well as winning Best Single Episode in 2002.

Another highly aclaimed storyline was Zoe's friendship with Kelly Taylor (Brooke Kinsella). In 2003, Zoe and Kelly made headlines in the UK, in a New Year's Eve episode that was filmed on-location in Scotland. In the storyline, Zoe, Kelly and others, travel from London to Scotland but their minibus crashes, leaving them stranded and injured on the freezing cold Scottish moors. While stranded, Kelly cares for an injured Zoe and they become overemotional – and kiss. The episode featuring their kiss attracted 9.5 million viewers, and the precise moment that they kissed was watched by 44% of the available viewing audience.

One of Zoe's subsequent major storylines was when she became romantically involved with local hardman Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), which soon ended after Zoe ended up being entrapped in an affair with Dennis' father Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) – though not before he pressured her into claiming that she is pregnant with Dennis' baby, as part of his last-ditch attempt to stop his devoted adopted daughter Sharon (Letitia Dean) from leaving Albert Square; Dennis and Sharon had embarked on a forbidden romance during the former's relationship with Zoe. When Zoe starts to worry that Dennis will discover her secret, Den persuades Zoe to sleep with him so she can get pregnant, up to the point where he blackmails her with the threat of exposing her secret to Dennis. Although Zoe is forced to relent to Den's blackmail, Dennis ends up seeing them in bed together and ends their relationship.

Her final storyline revolved around Den's murder on the show's 20th anniversary episode, after Zoe conspired with his estranged wife Chrissie (Tracy-Ann Oberman) and their friend Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) to get revenge on Den for the way how he victimised them. Their plan resulted in Zoe seemingly killing Den in The Queen Victoria public house after he attacked Chrissie; however, when Zoe left his corpse behind, Den regained consciousness until Chrissie ultimately killed him for good, shortly before Zoe reappeared in the room where he was murdered. Soon afterwards, Zoe leaves Walford for Ibiza after making amends with Kat and Dennis.

Storylines
A teenage Zoe first arrives in Walford in September 2000 with her family, which consists of her sisters Kat (Jessie Wallace), Lynne (Elaine Lordan) and Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth); their father Charlie (Derek Martin) and their grandmother Big Mo (Laila Morse). Over a year later, Zoe and Kat argue about Zoe's decision to move away from Walford to live with her uncle Harry (Michael Elphick). Kat tells Zoe she cannot go but Zoe walks out. Kat follows and after a heated argument reveals that she is Zoe's mother. She then explains that she fell pregnant at 13 after Harry raped her, thus revealing that Harry is her father. Zoe is shell-shocked, and Kat slashes her wrists in despair. Zoe runs away, unable to take in all the recent revelations.

While away, Zoe contacts Little Mo – the only other member of the family who did not know about Zoe's parentage – who persuades Zoe to come home, but after another argument with Kat, Zoe leaves again. She ends up living on the streets where she is discovered sick and penniless by Roxy Drake (Tracy Brabin), a pimp determined to recruit Zoe. Roxy provides Zoe with meals and cigarettes, finds her a flat and forces her to prostitute herself. Roxy and fellow prostitute Kelly Taylor (Brooke Kinsella) dress and make-up Zoe, but she gets drunk and vomits on her client. Kat arrives on Christmas Day to take Zoe home, but Roxy tries to prevent her taking Zoe, so Kat headbutts her.

Zoe gets engaged to Anthony Trueman (Nicholas Bailey), but leaves yet again, returning several months later, this time with Kelly in tow, and her engagement to Anthony is broken off.

In 2004, she briefly dates Dennis Rickman (Nigel Harman), but he is secretly in love with his adoptive half-sister Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean), and they eventually reveal their relationship. Sharon and Dennis's father Den Watts (Leslie Grantham) suggests that to keep Dennis, Zoe should claim she is pregnant, in order to split Sharon and Dennis up. The plan works but Zoe worries Dennis will realise she is not pregnant, and he refuses to sleep with her. After Zoe’s attempts to get pregnant from other local men fail, Den offers to sleep with her so she can get pregnant and pretend the baby is Dennis's. Dennis catches them in bed together and leaves, but not before telling Den's wife, Chrissie Watts (Tracy Ann Oberman).

Chrissie persuades Zoe to abort the baby and tells her they should team up for revenge on Den. They get together with Sam Mitchell (Kim Medcalf) to do this, meeting up in The Queen Victoria public house. Chrissie sends for Sharon, claiming Den is seriously ill. Sharon instead overhears Den admitting everything to the three other women as they confront him. Sharon then disowns Den before leaving Walford once more; Chrissie had orchestrated all of this - and achieved her aim of Sharon disowning Den - as payback for cheating on her with Zoe. Right after Sharon leaves, Den realises what Chrissie had done and proceeds to attack her – smashing her head against a fruit machine. Zoe stops him by attacking him with a metal doorstop, supposedly killing him. She runs off and Sam goes after her to calm her down. However, he is not dead, and he grabs Chrissie. She hits him again with the doorstop, finally killing Den. Following his murder, Zoe is led to believe that she killed Den, though Sam sees Chrissie kill Den and eventually tells Zoe, who punches Chrissie. Zoe leaves for Ibiza later in 2005 after having an emotional goodbye with Kat, while Chrissie is eventually caught out and charged with Den's murder, and Sam subsequently goes on the run. Just before her departure, Zoe had revealed the truth about Den fathering her baby and that she had terminated the pregnancy, having previously claimed to have suffered miscarriage. This followed Sharon and Dennis’s return to Walford, and a fierce verbal attack on Dennis by Zoe’s family.

In 2015, Kat reveals that Zoe has moved to Spain and announces to Mo and Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) that she will start saving up to visit Zoe. However, Mo tells Stacey that Zoe does not want to see Kat. Mo attempts to contact Zoe to get her to reconsider, but Kat finds out two days later in a text from Zoe that she cannot see her because of her new job and boyfriend and she feels she needs to move on with her life without Kat. In May 2015, Kat visits the convent where she gave birth to Zoe in 1984 and it is revealed to the viewers that Kat, unknowingly, had in fact had twins, a girl and a boy – meaning Zoe has a twin brother. Kat later moves to Spain off-screen and visits Zoe, who rejects her mother, leaving Kat devastated. Upon her return, Kat reveals that Zoe is now engaged.

In July 2022, it is revealed that Zoe has returned to London when Stacey's daughter, Lily (Lillia Turner) tracks her down on social media and invites her to Kat's upcoming wedding to Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden). In an effort to cheer up Kat, Lily also arranges for Zoe to meet with Kat at Peggy's wine bar that evening, but Zoe does not turn up, leaving Kat and Lily disappointed.

Creation and characterisation
The character of Zoe and the rest of the Slater family were created during workshops with Tony Jordan and John Yorke. London actors were invited to improvise in groups, and the characters were created during these improvisations. Michelle Ryan was cast as Zoe, and made her first on-screen appearance on 18 September 2000. The family consisted of, grandmother Mo Harris (Laila Morse), father Charlie (Derek Martin), his five children, Lynne (Elaine Lordan), Kat (Jessie Wallace), Little Mo (Kacey Ainsworth), Zoe (Ryan), Belinda (Leanne Lakey), who was to be introduced to EastEnders at a later date, as well as Lynne's boyfriend Garry Hobbs (Ricky Groves). It later transpired that Kat was the mother of Zoe, after being raped by her uncle Harry Slater (Michael Elphick).

According to the BBC's head of drama series, Mal Young, the family was brought in as the serial did not "have enough solid families in the soap, there were a lot of fractured families and people who were alone." Ryan was cast in the role of Zoe after the character was developed at an improvisation session for thirty actors and actresses earlier in the year. He chose Lordan, Wallace, Ainsworth, Ryan and Lakey as the five sisters as they got on so well at the sessions. The actors performed a Nolans routine at the session, which was "later included on EastEnders as part of one of the Queen Vic's karaoke nights". The character is described as bolshy, defiant and a vivacious teenager who makes an impression on the men of Walford.

Development
In 2001, an upcoming storyline, involving Zoe and Kat, when Zoe asks if she can live with Harry. The News of the World reported that Kat would tell Zoe that she was actually her mother and that Harry had raped her when she was 13. An EastEnders source said, "Zoe thinks her mother is dead—but the truth is very different." In 2002, a story where Zoe runs away with Anthony to get married in secret was announced. That year, Ryan was rested from the soap on doctor's orders, by agreement from Louise Berridge, the executive producer, Ryan and her parents. Plans for character developments between Zoe and Anthony were delayed and plans for their on-screen marriage were pushed back, with the wedding storyline being re-written. In September that year, Ryan said she would return and was looking forward to it, and Berridge said she was "delighted" and hoped viewers would look forward to Zoe being reunited with the rest of her family.

Kelly Taylor
The friendship between Zoe and Kelly Taylor (Brooke Kinsella) was a recurring storyline for both characters. In the British press, Kelly and Zoe were compared to two former popular characters, who also shared a close screen friendship, Bianca Jackson (Patsy Palmer) and Tiffany Mitchell (Martine McCutcheon). Kinsella has commented, "It is nice to be compared because they were great [characters] but, hopefully, [Michelle Ryan] and I will bring our own characters to light and show what we can do. We have so much in common and we balance each other out – when she's crazy I'll calm her down and vice-versa. It's worked well, which is why Kelly has been kept on, which is great for me but also for Michelle because she's got somebody to have fun with. Kelly's been one of the slowest developing characters and that's been good for me. I wasn't thrown into it and having Michelle has been great for me."

In 2003, Zoe and Kelly made headlines in the UK during the New Year's Eve episode that was filmed on-location in Scotland. In said episode, the pair along with some group of teenagers travel from London to Scotland for New Year's Eve, but their minibus crashes, leaving them stranded and injured on the freezing cold Scottish moors. While stranded, Kelly cares for an injured Zoe, they become overemotional, and kiss. Kinsella explained the reasons behind the kiss: "They're stuck in the hills, thinking they're going to die—it's a way of saying goodbye and also of showing how much they love each other as friends. Which is quite sweet really." She claimed that the kiss was made easier due to the fact that she was kissing her off-screen best friend: "That made it so much easier. We thought we were just going to be laughing and giggling the whole way through, but we were very professional. It was so cold that we just wanted to get it over with. We were shaking from cold—not from nerves—and it was raining, so we just thought, 'Let's do it and get it done with'. [...] We laugh about it now. When it came down to it, the truth was that it was just like any other screen kiss." The episode featuring their kiss attracted 9.5 million viewers, and the precise moment that they kissed was watched by 44% of the available viewing audience.

Dennis Rickman and Den Watts
In September 2004, a Christmas storyline created by Berridge that was to show Zoe fall pregnant with Dennis Rickman's (Nigel Harman) baby was axed by Berridge's successor, Kathleen Hutchison. Instead, Zoe was to be seduced by Dennis's father, Den (Leslie Grantham). An EastEnders insider revealed: "Dirty Den lives up to his name by seducing Zoe. He makes his move when she comments how handsome he looks for his age. But they are caught in the act by Dennis who is shocked and disgusted to see his dad snogging his girlfriend." Hutchison decided that Den would be killed off in a storyline involving three people plotting to kill him. The storyline saw Zoe, Chrissie and Sam plot his death, and a source said, "The three girls team up after deciding they have to get rid of Den but viewers will be left wondering who the actual killer is. They plot and scheme to give themselves alibis and exact their revenge for what Den has done to them."

Departure
It was thought that Ryan was going to quit the soap after several reports of her leaving EastEnders. One of her friends who spoke in September 2004 revealed, "Without sounding arrogant, Michelle believes she has the looks and talent to succeed at the highest level. She has been in EastEnders for four years but sees her future very much in films and modelling. She realises the show has put her on the map but doesn't want to be typecast. "Because of her soap commitments she's had to turn down dozens of great modelling offers and feels her soap role is now holding her back. Michelle's happy to honour her contract but then will make the jump."

On 29 January 2005 it was announced after a lot of speculation that Ryan, along with Kim Medcalf (Sam), would be leaving. A source for the show said, "Michelle [Ryan] has made no secret of her plans to leave the soap in recent months. Despite her character being at the centre of some of the show's biggest storylines, the actress is now considering a modelling career." The source added, "Michelle is hot property and has been inundated with offers of other acting work. She's also had several offers of lucrative modelling projects." Speaking about her decision to quit she told The Sun, Everyone knew it was time for me to go and I knew it was time for me to move on."Then Jessie [Wallace], who plays my screen mum Kat, said, 'You're young, so get out there. Now's the time to go for it. You're only young once and you can't stay here forever.' "I've grown up in EastEnders. I've been here for four years, so I will miss everybody. But you get that feeling and when you know it's time to spread your wings and fly, you need to do that. Everyone says I'm doing the right thing." Her exit storyline was revealed saying, "She leaves because she can't stand everyone knowing what she did in order to persuade Dennis not to leave her," an insider told the newspaper. "It is truly gripping stuff and there won't be a dry eye in the house on the night."

Since her departure she told the Bristol Evening Post that she has no plans to return saying,"I just got quite bored in the end, to be honest. Doing the same thing day in, day out. It's just so boring. I like to jump from different things." "I always saw EastEnders as an apprenticeship," she told the Daily Record. "I always wanted to go on and do different things. I have some really good friends from that show but the door is closed." She said: "I've always taken chances. I think that's how you progress – by stepping out and doing different things. I really do like my freedom and jumping from job to job. I just want to work with people I admire and respect, wherever that be – big budget, low budget, leading role, supporting role."

Speculated returns
The press reported on 18 April 2010 that Ryan was approached by the producers of EastEnders to return for a month around the Christmas period that year, coinciding with the return of Zoe's on-screen mother Kat and her husband Alfie. A BBC spokeswoman denied this, saying, "Speculation is rife about returning characters but this is not true. However, as with all characters, we would never say never." Talking about these rumours she replied, "No, [it's] not for me." It was again reported in August 2011 that Ryan was returning for a Christmas special. They reported that she was "excited" over possible storylines with Wallace and Richie. A BBC spokesperson dismissed the rumours, telling Digital Spy that there are no plans for Zoe to return. In April 2017, Ryan called for Zoe to be recast.

In popular culture
The character of Zoe Slater has been spoofed in the cartoon sketch show 2DTV.

Reception
In 2002, Zoe and Kat's storyline was nominated for Best Storyline at the British Soap Awards, but lost out to the bullying plot in Brookside. The episode where the truth about Kat being Zoe's mother won Best Single Episode. For her portrayal of Zoe, Ryan was nominated in the category of Best Actress at the 2005 British Soap Awards. For EastEnders' 25th anniversary in 2010, Zoe finding out about her mother was voted the greatest EastEnders moment by What's on TV. In addition, the EastEnders website named the moment where Kat told Zoe that she was her mother one of the most 'dramatic endings'.

The kiss between Zoe and Kelly received criticism. Lesbian news site AfterEllen.com branded it a "gratuitous ratings-stunt" and said "The writers bottled out and the two young women dismissed it as a one-off, assuring each other that neither of them was 'like that,' leaving lesbian and bisexual viewers feeling cheated. This was a wasted opportunity, a chance to explore an emotionally complex situation between best friends that became just another exploitive TV moment instead." In an interview about homosexual television characters in The Guardian, scriptwriter Daran Little criticised lesbians in British soaps: "Most lesbian characters are so lipstick. They start off straight and, lo and behold, they just can't resist it. You can see the straight fantasy at work behind the character". Journalist Paul Flynn stated that Zoe was an example of this, describing her as a "tabloid-friendly 18-year-old—who [...] brushed with lesbianism for all of five minutes." Kinsella defended the kiss in an interview, commenting, "It's not a gratuitous ratings getting move, it's not some kind of big lesbian kiss. It's the way two best friends who have a lot of love for each other show their emotions."

In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Zoe 59th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, writing that she was most popular for her 2001 "legendary slanging match" with Kat where it is revealed that she is Kat's daughter.

title: Zoe Slater


title: User:205.188.117.73