Policies for Partnership Working in Health and Social Care

Policies for Partnership Working in Health and Social Care The partnership between health and social care services policies in UK Introduction For the past decade or so, the focus within health and social services has been on improving all-round services through partnership between different organisations. The aim of this has been to improve integration, efficiency and provide better care for all types of patients in the community. However, the policies involved in both health and social care services have not always allowed the partnerships to work as they should. Whilst there have been some successes and partnerships have improved integration and overall care, there have also been mistakes that in some cases have made things worse rather than better.[1] The aim of this essay is to track the development of the partnership between health and welfare services over the last ten years or so, and how effective this partnership has been. There will be a critical review of partnership policy, and a focused case study on the Sure Start partnership as an example of how partnerships between health and social services in the UK are fairing. The development of a partnership between health and welfare service The development of partnerships between health and welfare services has been a critical focus of New Labour policy over the last ten years. However, these terms are often not defined particularly well and are therefore fairly difficult to analyse. The problem is that collaboration and partnership between the organisations is difficult in light of different cultures and power relationships within the professions.[2] However, this has not stopped attempts by New Labour to create partnerships between health and social care through various initiatives and policies. It was in 1999 that the government set out its radical NHS Plan that promised to transform the way in which health and social services interacted. The development of Care Trusts meant that health and social services would be dealt with by a singular organisation in certain areas for the first time. The main focus of the changes being on child services, service for the elderly and mental health services.[3] The first problem of developing partnerships was to overcome the difficulties and issues between new staff committed to the partnership and older staff who had worked in the organisations as separate entities. The UK Centres of Excellence funded by the DfES were created in an effort to combine high quality services in one place. These then led to specific Children’s Centres. The idea was to combine disciplines of health and social care in one arena as a focus on a specific group of individuals – in this case families and children.[4] The focus for many of the partnership policies and initiatives has been on children, families and the elderly in an effort to provide better integrated care for these groups. One of the biggest developments within partnerships between health care and social care has been to empower those who use the services in an effort to smooth over integration. The idea is that with user participation these organisations will better understand how to work as a partnership to help the needs of the user. If the users can help to shape service standards, then differences between the organisations will be reduced and effective partnership will be increased.[5] The idea behind this is also to manage internal diversity within the country as a society and the diversity within organisations so that these different parts can work together more easily.[6] The partnerships and their success are looked at in two ways. Firstly, how well the partners can work together to address mutual aims, and also how service delivery and effects on health and well-being of service users has been improved.[7] The focus of policy has been on inter-organisational partnerships between health and social care, rather than focusing on individual professionals working together between organisations. The development should be seen as ‘NHS working with DfES/DCSF’ rather than ‘GP’s, doctors and nurses working with social workers’.[8] The biggest shift has been the creation of the Primary Care Groups and Care Trusts which are responsible for the welfare of healthcare services in the community. These organisations are being encouraged to work with social services so that intermediate care can be provided, hospital waiting lists can be cut and the roots of issues can be sorted rather than merely the outcomes being treated. The formation of Care Trusts that try to combine health and social services in one organisation has been somewhat hit and miss in the UK.[9] The next section will critically examine these policies. Critical review of partnership policy One of the biggest problems with these policies is that many of the terms used are extremely vague and it is hard to evaluate their effectiveness. ‘Partnership’ is not accurately defined by most of the policies, and this leaves the concept open to interpretation.[10] The concept of user participation and feedback within the policy is also rather poorly defined, and this means that the effectiveness of user participation to bring together health and social services tools is rarely monitored.[11] There needs to be more feedback for users on their participation within these organisations, and the participation of users needs to be tied directly into policy to improve partnerships.[12] The term ‘culture’ is also given importance in the policies because it determines how the organisations work together in the partnership and work with users of the services. However, studies have shown this term has not been given a universal meaning and local organisations have given the term different meanings. This leads to inconsistent services and fluctuating success within a partnership.[13] However, there have been some benefits of the increased user participation within health and social care partnerships. It has allowed users to gain more power within the relationship and in many ways help to self-manage their own needs more clearly. This is certainly the care within health and social care partnerships for the elderly community. Rather than being seen as a drain on resources, the older generation can now work with health and social services to maintain a higher quality of life and continually contribute to society. With health and social care working together in this way, the elderly community have better access to their needs as well as being more efficiently care for due to the organisational collaboration.[14] The difference here is that whereas before an elderly person would be seen separately by the NHS and by private and government-based social services agencies, these organisations now work together to provide all primary care needs in one package. This makes it easier for all involved in the process.[15] It removes the boundaries that have been such an issue for many older people over the decades within the UK welfare system.[16] The problem of course arises when the partnership as a whole is not serving the needs of individuals. Whereas before an individual may be failed by one organisation, now the failure will cover all the services they require. With the health and social services organisations also working with private entities such as insurers, if one area fails then the service package as a whole can fail.[17] The problem is still that the two markets of health and social care are organisationally opposed. The culture within the organisations is geared towards competition rather than cooperation, and this has been extremely hard to overcome.[18] The disciplines have found it hard to build up levels of trust that allow for successful communication and partnership.[19] Despite these problems with policy, there have been cases where policies have established partnerships between health and social services. One of these partnership initiatives is known as ‘Sure Start’. The next section will present a case study of this partnership to evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. Case study of sure start The Sure Start program was created in the ‘early years’ of the New Labour government and looked to help children and families both before and after birth in a holistic and integrated way. This includes provided healthcare and social care for children, as well as providing in-need adults with social care that they can benefit from. The government put a large amount of money into the project from 1998 onwards, and has rolled the program out across the country.[20] The program sees all health and social care service providers work together to benefit parents and children in a wide variety of ways, particularly for vulnerable children and those with learning difficulties. These issues can benefit from an integrated approach that combines different aspects of health and social care in one package.[21] Reports from this program in local areas show that commitment to partnerships and cooperation has been high amongst the staff involved. Those involved in the partnership, whether health and social services staff or parent members, found the experience to be positive and allowed for a more integrated approach to family welfare. Work with families has improved somewhat, although there are still problems. The biggest problem to the effectiveness of the partnership is differing organisational cultures. These cultures mean that health and social services cannot always work effectively together, and that there are also limits on parental involvement. Parents found that the bureaucratic cultures of the organisations meant they were reluctant to participate further in the partnership. Likewise, staff within the different organisations found it hard to work with certain other staff because of differences in organisational culture.[22] In other studies, the results were even poorer. Rutter found that the objective of Sure Start to eliminate child poverty and social exclusion was not being met. The results of National Evaluations of the Sure Start Team were analysed and showed that after 3 years, there was no significant service improvement. In fact, in some areas the service had got worse and had made the situations of families worse.[23] The problem here was that whilst the partnership was working successful in bringing together health and social services, this was not improving the actual services offered on both sides. With only one organisation to now use, the most disadvantaged families were being let down in all areas rather than just in a few areas. It seems that many of the weaknesses of both organisations were combined in the partnership rather than their strengths. Other results show mixed results. One study showed that the partnership had been effective for teenage mothers in improving their parenting, but the actual children of such mothers were in some cases worse off. The problem seems to be not with the concept of the partnership itself, but the actual practical effectiveness of the local organisations involved in the particular partnership and the level of communication and cooperation between different staff.[24] Overall, the project has certainly been a success in developing integrated support networks for children and families throughout the UK. However, the effectiveness of this support network has been hindered in many areas because of different organisational cultures and a lack of adequate management capacity across the disciplines. These cultural problems have also limited the effectives of service user participation in some areas, and this is something that needs to be addressed in the future if these partnerships are to be successful.[25] Conclusion The policies of the New Labour government have tried to overcome the previous problems of drawing together the health and social services into one partnership. These organisations have always been highly separate, and attempts in the 1980’s and early 1990’s to foster cooperation between them often failed because of the differences in the organisations.[26] The issue has been that trying to find a fast and effective solution to the boundaries between health and social care is difficult, although it is attainable in the long-term.[27] The partnerships themselves have actually been quite successful in creating sustainable and integrated local support networks across the UK. However, the effectiveness of these partnerships has been damaged by a number of factors. Firstly, there is still too much competition and a culture of ‘blaming the other organisation’ between health and social services. Both organisations would prefer to absolve themselves of responsibility and compete for success rather than work together to solve the problem together. Although when things go right the partnership can work, when things go wrong both parties look to blame the ‘other side’. This means many users are let down by the partnership with no-one taking responsibility for the failure.[28] Also, there has been too much emphasis on inter-organisational cooperation rather than inter-professional cooperation. Whilst organisations as a whole are difficult to change because of imbedded cultures and management styles, individual professionals can quickly be shown how to work together to both achieve better results for their respective organisations. The government policies should be more focused on getting individuals within different organisations (e.g. doctors and social workers) than looking at combining whole organisations. This gives the user the integrated support they need whilst still allowing the different organisations to concentrate on what they do best.[29] In conclusion, partnerships between the health and social services in the UK can work to improve support for those who need it. However, the focus needs to shift from inter-organisational cooperation to inter-professional cooperation if the partnerships that have been successfully set up are to be effective in the future. Bibliography Anning, A (2005) Investigating the impact of working in multi- agency service delivery setting in the UK on early years practitioners beliefs and practices. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 3(1), pp.19-50 Balloch, S and Taylor, M (2001) Partnership Working: Policy and Practice. Bristol: The Policy Press. Barnes, M, Newman, J and Sullivan, H (2004) Power, participation and political renewal; theoretical and empirical perspectives on public participation under new Labour. Social Politics, 11(2), pp. 267-279. Belsky, J et al (2006) Effects of Sure Start local programmes on children and families: early findings from a quasi-experimental, cross sectional study. BMJ, 332, p. 1476. Brown, L, Tucker, C, and Domokos, T (2003) Evaluating the impact of integrated health and social care teams on older people living in the community. Health and Social Care in the Community, 11(2), pp. 85-94. Carnwell, R and Buchanan, J (2005) Effective Practice in Health and Social Care: A Partnership Approach. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Carpenter, J, Griffin, M and Brown, S (2005) The Impact of Sure Start on Social Services. Durham Centre for Applied Social Research. Available at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/SSU2005FR015.pdf Carr, S (2004) Has service user participation made a difference to social care services? London: Social Care institute for Excellence. Available at: http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/positionpapers/pp03.asp Clarke, J (2005) New Labours citizens: activated, empowered, responsibilized, abandoned? Critical Social Policy, 25, pp. 447-463. Dowling, B, Powell, M, and Glendinning, C (2004) Conceptualising successful partnership. Health and Social Care in the Community, 12(4), pp. 309-317. DCSF (2008) Sure Start Partnership Work. SureStart Website. Available at: http://www.surestart.gov.uk/stepintolearning/setup/feinvolvement/partnership/ (Accessed 27th December 2008). Gilson, L (2003) Trust and the development of health care as a social institution. Social Science and Medicine, 56(7), pp. 1453-1468. Glasby, J and Peck, E (2004) Care Trusts: Partnership Working in Action. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing. Glass, N (1999) Sure Start: the development of an early intervention programme for young children in the United Kingdom. Children and Society, 13(4), pp. 257-264. Glendinning, C (2002) Partnerships between health and social services: developing a framework for evaluation. Policy and Politics, 30(1), pp. 115-127. Glendinning, C, Powell, M A and Rummery, K (2002) Partnerships, New Labour and the Governance of Welfare. Bristol: The Policy Press. Ham, C (1997) Health Care Reform: Learning from International Experience. Plenary Session I: Reframing Health Care Policies. Available at: http://www.ha.org.hk/archives/hacon97/contents/26.pdf Hudson, B (1999) Joint commissioning across the primary health care–social care boundary: can it work? Health and Social Care in the Community, 7(5), pp. 358-366. Hudson, B (2002) Interprofessionality in health and social care: the Achilles heel of partnership? Journal of Interprofessional Care, 16(1), pp. 7-17. Leathard, A (1994) Going Inter-professional: Working Together for Health and Welfare. London: Routledge. Leathard, A (2003) Interprofessional Collaboration: From Policy to Practice in Health and Social Care. New York: Routledge. Lewis, J (2001) Older People and the Health–Social Care Boundary in the UK: Half a Century of Hidden Policy Conflict. Social Policy and Administration, 35(4), pp. 343-359. Lymbery, M (2006) Untied we stand? Partnership working in health and social care and the role of social work in services for older people. British Journal of Social Work, 36, pp. 1119-1134. Maddock, S and Morgan, G (1998) Barriers to transformation: Beyond bureaucracy and the market conditions for collaboration in health and social care. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 11(4), pp. 234-251. Martin, V (2002) Managing Projects in Health and Social Care. New York: Routledge. Myers, P, Barnes, J and Brodie, I (2003) Partnership Working in Sure Start Local Programmes Early findings from local programme evaluations. NESS Synthesis Report 1. Available at: http://www.ness.bbk.ac.uk/documents/synthesisReports/23.pdf Newman, J et al (2004) Public participation and collaborative governance. Journal of Social Policy and Society, 33, pp. 203-223. Peck, E, Towell, D and Gulliver, P (2001) The meanings of culture in health and social care: a case study of the combined Trust in Somerset . Journal of Interprofessional Care, 15(4), pp. 319-327. Rummery, K and Coleman, A (2003) Primary health and social care services in the UK: progress towards partnership? Social Science and Medicine, 56(8), pp. 1773-1782. Rutter, M (2006) Is Sure Start an Effective Preventive Intervention? Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 11(3), pp. 135-141. Stanley, N and Manthorpe, J (2004) The Age of Inquiry: Learning and Blaming in Health and Social Care. New York: Routledge. 1 Footnotes [1] Leathard, A (1994) Going Inter-professional: Working Together for Health and Welfare. London: Routledge, pp. 6-9 [2] Lymbery, M (2006) Untied we stand? Partnership working in health and social care and the role of social work in services for older people. British Journal of Social Work, 36, pp. 1128-1131. [3] Glasby, J and Peck, E (2004) Care Trusts: Partnership Working in Action. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing, pp. 1-2 [4] Anning, A (2005) Investigating the impact of working in multi- agency service delivery setting in the Uk on early years practitioners beliefs and practices. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 3(1), pp.19-21 [5] Barnes, M, Newman, J and Sullivan, H (2004) Power, participation and political renewal; theoretical and empirical perspectives on public participation under new Labour. Social Politics, 11(2), pp. 267-270. [6] Clarke, J (2005) New Labours citizens: activated, empowered, responsibilized, abandoned? Critical Social Policy, 25, pp. 449-453 [7] Dowling, B, Powell, M, and Glendinning, C (2004) Conceptualising successful partnership. Health and Social Care in the Community, 12(4), pp. 309-312. [8] Hudson, B (2002) Interprofessionality in health and social care: the Achilles heel of partnership? Journal of Interprofessional Care, 16(1), pp. 10-14. [9] Rummery, K and Coleman, A (2003) Primary health and social care services in the UK: progress towards partnership? Social Science and Medicine, 56(8), pp. 1777-1780. [10] Glendinning, C (2002) Partnerships between health and social services: developing a framework for evaluation. Policy and Politics, 30(1), pp. 115-117. [11] Carr, S (2004) Has service user participation made a difference to social care services? London: Social Care institute for Excellence. Available at: http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/positionpapers/pp03.asp [12] Newman, J et al (2004) Public participation and collaborative governance. Journal of Social Policy and Society, 33, pp. 217-220. [13] Peck, E, Towell, D and Gulliver, P (2001) The meanings of culture in health and social care: a case study of the combined Trust in Somerset . Journal of Interprofessional Care, 15(4), pp. 323-325. [14] Balloch, S and Taylor, M (2001) Partnership Working: Policy and Practice. Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 143-145. [15] Leathard, A (2003) Interprofessional Collaboration: From Policy to Practice in Health and Social Care. New York: Routledge, pp. 102-103 [16] Lewis, J (2001) Older People and the Health–Social Care Boundary in the UK: Half a Century of Hidden Policy Conflict. Social Policy and Administration, 35(4), pp. 343-344. [17] Ham, C (1997) Health Care Reform: Learning from International Experience. Plenary Session I: Reframing Health Care Policies. Available at: http://www.ha.org.hk/archives/hacon97/contents/26.pdf, p. 25 [18] Maddock, S and Morgan, G (1998) Barriers to transformation: Beyond bureaucracy and the market conditions for collaboration in health and social care. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 11(4), pp. 234-235. [19] Gilson, L (2003) Trust and the development of health care as a social institution. Social Science and Medicine, 56(7), pp. 1463-1466. [20] Glass, N (1999) Sure Start: the development of an early intervention programme for young children in the United Kingdom. Children and Society, 13(4), pp. 257-259. [21] DCSF (2008) Sure Start Partnership Work. SureStart Website. Available at: http://www.surestart.gov.uk/stepintolearning/setup/feinvolvement/partnership/ (Accessed 27th December 2008). [22] Myers, P, Barnes, J and Brodie, I (2003) Partnership Working in Sure Start Local Programmes Early findings from local programme evaluations. NESS Synthesis Report 1. Available at: http://www.ness.bbk.ac.uk/documents/synthesisReports/23.pdf [23] Rutter, M (2006) Is Sure Start an Effective Preventive Intervention? Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 11(3), pp. 137-140. [24] Belsky, J et al (2006) Effects of Sure Start local programmes on children and families: early findings from a quasi-experimental, cross sectional study. BMJ, 332, p. 1476. [25] Carpenter, J, Griffin, M and Brown, S (2005) The Impact of Sure Start on Social Services. Durham Centre for Applied Social Research. Available at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/SSU2005FR015.pdf, pp. 44-48 [26] Glendinning, C, Powell, M A and Rummery, K (2002) Partnerships, New Labour and the Governance of Welfare. Bristol: The Policy Press, pp. 34-36 [27] Hudson, B (1999) Joint commissioning across the primary health care–social care boundary: can it work? Health and Social Care in the Community, 7(5), pp. 363-365. [28] Stanley, N and Manthorpe, J (2004) The Age of Inquiry: Learning and Blaming in Health and Social Care. New York: Routledge, pp. 1-5 [29] Martin, V (2002) Managing Projects in Health and Social Care. New York: Routledge, pp. 180-190

War in Iraq Essay -- essays research papers

War in Iraq   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Picture this, you, in a 3rd world country, no friends no family for thousands of miles, hungry, not feeling so well, tired, exhausted and being forced to fight thousands of people who want you out of there country? Fun? I wouldn’t think so†¦ This is a reality for thousands of American Soldiers stationed in Iraq and maybe your reality if the draft is reinstated. Now, picture this. You’re watching the news, they are calling out birthdays, oh they choose yours, but uh oh this is for a draft. You are now being shipped over to Iraq to fight with out choice. Easy as that. But what are you fighting for? Freedom, safety, your country? Maybe†¦ But the war is costing your home country 140 billion dollars so far and so far killed 1101 American Soldiers and we found no weapons of mass destruction or anything else that brought us to war in the 1st place. So good luck†¦   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yes the war in Iraq is costing our country over 140 billion, so far†¦ Our state almost 5 billion dollars and our city 58.5 million dollars! This is unfair. We could have fully funded global anti-hunger efforts for 5 years, fully funded world wide AIDS programs for 14 years, built 1,300,000 homes for the homeless, put 19,000,000 kids into preschool, gave 85,000,000 kids health insurance for a whole year or even gave out 7,000,000 4-year scholarships to students at public universities! Instead we are at war. With all that money we could of made this country...

The Scarrlet Letter :: essays research papers

The Scarrlet Letter As citizens of the United States and members of the most open society in the world it is difficult for us to picture a world where the phrases woman's rights, equal opportunity, and religious freedom have little meaning. When the surface of American history is scratched, not necessarily deeply a past of limited rights for women is soon revealed. The challenge to any author comes in painting a picture of this colonial past to both current readers and readers to come. Nathaniel Hawthorne In his book ' The Scarlet Letter'; successfully meets this task through the character of Hester Prynn. Hawthorne describes a woman with independence ahead of her time and a social order unprepared to accept her.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hester's independence was promptly demonstrated at the novel's beginning. The court has ruled as punishment for her adultery she must wear an 'A'; upon her chest, that to the colonist served as a reminder of the punishment they would suffer if their sins were to be discovered, and to Hester a reminder of sin. Hester stands alone outside the court house as the close minded colonial eyes stare at her and the baby in her arms. Many women during this era of American history would look for a way to run. Hester shows little sign of uneasiness, with exception to her firm hold on the infant. At the conclusion of this scene the reader knows that this is a strong woman trying to maintain dignity in a land were a woman's independence ranked right above blasphemy on the hierarchy of values.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the novel Hester demonstrates her independence of living. Her husband never comes forward, and her lover does the same. With everyone denying relations Hester is forced to live alone. She raises the child by herself and is successful in her enterprise of sewing and hemming. Hawthorne informs us that this lifestyle of isolationism is unique to her, and convinces us that an average colonial woman could not survive under these conditions. At this point in the book Hester has shown her independence in dealing with life's crisis, and in her style of living.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The best way to understand a parents personality is to examine how they raise their children. This idea holds true when one examines closely the techniques Hester uses to raise Pearl. In this era of religious totality, independence of thought, and the teachings of those ideals commanded little

Walter Lees Dreams in A Raisin in The Sun Essay -- Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun is a play about segregation, triumph, and coping with personal tragedy. Set in Southside Chicago, A Raisin in the Sun focuses on the individual dreams of the Younger family and their personal achievement. The Younger's are an African American family besieged by poverty, personal desires, and the ultimate struggle against the hateful ugliness of racism. Lena Younger, Mama, is the protagonist of the story and the eldest Younger. She dreams of many freedoms, freedom to garden, freedom to raise a societal-viewed equal family, and freedom to live liberated of segregation. Next in succession is Beneatha Younger, Mama's daughter, assimilationist, and one who dreams of aiding people by breaking down barriers to become an African American female doctor. Lastly, is Walter Lee Younger, son of Mama and husband of Ruth. Walter dreams of economic prosperity and desires to become a flourishing businessman. Over the course of Walter's life many things contrib uted to his desire to become a businessman. First and foremost, Walter's father had a philosophy that no man should have to do labor for another man. Being that Walter Lee was a chauffeur, Big Walter?s philosophy is completely contradicted. Also, in Walter?s past, he had the opportunity to go into the Laundromat business which he chose against. In the long run, he saw this choice was fiscally irresponsible this choice was. In Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Walter Lee's dreams, which are his sole focus, lead to impaired judgement and a means to mend his shattered life. Initially, Walter?s sole focus on his dreams lead to impaired judgment. One way Walter portrays his impaired judgment is when he makes assorted empty promises. In the Yo... ...se. Still Walter will face many more roadblocks, but perhaps his shattered life may begin to repair itself, even without financial security. Evidently, Walter Lee?s judgment becomes significantly impaired and all because of his dreams. In the world today, people still struggle with the same problems and desire the same things Walter does. Success is a seemingly huge necessity. In the course of ones life, each person is destined to face personal conflicts and contradictions. These problems, with the ability to overcome them is truly how to achieve greatness. As Mr. Langston Hughes questions so powerfully in his poem, ?What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun With the help of Walter Lee Younger, the answer becomes evident. Dreams never dry up? they just change. Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Signet, 2008.

Commentary on Ten Trillion and Counting

Commentary on â€Å"Ten Trillion and Counting† The video is a well demonstration of debt issues that the U. S. government faces. It starts with the tough economic condition that Obama inherited from Bush. Then, it talks about Bush’s centerpiece economic agenda: cut taxes, as well as the way Bush always put politics ahead of economics. After a serious of expenses related to two big wars; two enormous tax cuts; and a variety of new entitlement program signed by Bush had been spent, the economic began to go down.He not only squandered the entire budget surplus he had inherited, but started to confronting a stubborn recession and a steadily escalating budget deficit. Next, the video shows the bitterly partisan fight over Obama’s expensive economic recovery plan. The Republicans worried about if the plan goes well, they will get no credits for anything they have done. So they strongly disagree with this huge amount of recovery expenses. The main issue regarding of thi s plan is about reform healthcare in order to save money in the long run.However, it is difficult to persuade interest groups and politicians who have been battling over healthcare for a long time. Besides, it is especially tough to talk to Americans about the government are going to spend less on benefits in a recession time. In the end, this video talks about Obama’s budget, and the rigorous debt deficit condition that the U. S. is going through. The reason I think the â€Å"Ten Trillion and Counting† is a well explanation of the debt deficit is because I learned a lot from this video. Before I watched this video I have no idea about the serious debt deficit problem that the U.S. is facing right now. The only thing I realized from my personal experience is that the U. S. government has relaxed the policy regarding to the threshold of international student. Several years ago, it is not easy for Chinese student to go abroad. Which reflects that the U. S. government rea lly wants to stimulate the economy by increase more demand. International student is a good resource of money. Another â€Å"interesting thing† I found in my daily life is that not only numerous retailers put advertisement like â€Å"buy 2 get 2 free,† some luxury brand starts to go on sale as well.It is rarely to see decades ago for a brand like Burberry put promotion in front of its showcase. From this perspective, people’s buying power has decreased sharply. Which results in less investments and staffs cut-off made by companies. In addition, a really serious recession was already happened. The stock market collapse, the banking system is imploded. Although keep borrowing from foreign countries is a way to buffer these problems, it is not a permanent way to solve the economy. So the U. S.Government needs to take some actions to decrease debt deficit. According to the video, there are two ways to reduce deficit, either by higher taxes or lower benefits. Today, forty percent of budget pays for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. However, the first baby boomer is getting retired sooner and they are claiming early retirement for social security. Moreover, as they grow order, they will make claims on Medicare. The U. S. government cannot afford these promises made before, especially in this kind of terrible economic downturn conditions.The Obama’s administration tries to bring deficit down by reforming healthcare in order to save money in the long run. In my opinion, the recovery plan needs to have a try. As Obama said: â€Å" the most important things we can do for our budget crisis right now is to make sure the economy does not continue to tank. And that is why passing the economic recovery plan is the right thing to do. Even though it is expensive. † In the short run, the debt deficit may tend to be bigger than Bush’s time. But after the healthcare has been taken, the economy will benefits in the long run.

The Policy Process Part Iii

The Policy Process, Part II University of Phoenix HCS 455 The Policy Process, Part II In the paper the author discussed The Policy Process, Part I on how Medicare part D became a policy. The author discussed the details on the formulation, legislative, and implementation stages of the policy. Now time to look at the final stages of the process, of Medicare Part D. Which are evaluation, analysis, revision, and methodology stages. In every policy there will be an evaluation stage to see how the policy will work and what needs to be done to evaluate the process. Evaluation StageThe evaluation stage is a process in which policymakers in the Senate and House look at a policy and evaluate the future outcomes of a policy in this case Medicare Part D. For instance once of the evaluation process would be how policymakers would evaluate the pharmaceutical companies to make sure to keep prescription costs down. Another would be to evaluate how many senior citizens are enrolling in the plan. As well as making sure senior citizens have all the information available to them to choose the correct plan that fits their prescription needs. For instance the Kaiser Foundation did a study on the technical problems of Medicare Part D.One of Kaiser’s findings seen confusion on which prescriptions would be covered from the numerous plans that an individual can choose from. As well, as medical providers not getting the new medical software to transition Medicare Part D into their computer systems. This meant that difference agencies like, doctors, insurance companies, and pharmacies run different programs and that have different policies on how to share patient’s information. Now on the other hand, if all these agencies can have the same software this would allow everyone in the patient’s medical circle to share the same codes and computer language.Thus, not having to have a great deal of public pain and confusion about the patient’s drug coverage’s. Another problem was transferring large patient’s files from one insurer to another insurer can take up to six months, from a 2004 study from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission(Terri Emerick, 2006). One of the solutions to these problems would be to evaluate the information which is being sent to senior citizens. Medicare should send out their booklet to all senior citizens that are in the drug plan. All senior citizens should write down their medications which they are taking.Many seniors that do go to their local senior centers should go online and check out the Medicare website for information. As well calling Medicare to ask questions about which plan will work best for them. Do not forget to talk to your local pharmacist he or she might be able to tell the names of the plans which cover the prescriptions. By evaluating these areas policymakers can get information from outside agencies to do research and come up with results from polls, interviews, and surveys. In ev aluating all this information policymakers can form an analysis of Medicare Part D and see what need to be done.Analysis Stage Analyzing Medicare Part D as the author stated earlier one of the problems where the technical problems between the different agencies and sharing patients information. On February 17, 2009 President Obama signed a $787 billion dollar stimulus bill which puts $150 billion dollars on spending health information technology (Omini MD, 2009). This new plan physicians and health professionals will now receive incentives for implementing IT programs into their computer systems. Becoming paperless will maximize Medicare as well as physicians and medical professionals.By 2015 it will be mandatory that all physicians and medical professionals use IT programs. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by December 31, 2009 under the stimulus act will develop a set of standards, implementation methods, and criteria for the new IT system to be in pl ace (Chris Silvia, 2009). Another analysis was made about the enrollment period. The enrollment period to enroll in a drug coverage plan is from November 15th through December 31st. Many elderly individuals felt they were getting rushed into signing up for a plan.Most of them were confused and explaining why they must pick a new drug coverage program every year. Many individuals fail to sign up within the six week time frame due to their medical or mental condition. This is something that would need to be analyzed and see if they can extend the enrollment period from six week to 12 weeks. Start the enrollment period on October 1st instead of November 15th. This would give many elderly individuals plenty enough time to pick, choose, and switch plans before the December 31st end date.In this entire analysis one must think there should be revisions made to the policy to make it better. Revision Stage In revising a policy starts by looking to see which policies need to be updated or cha nged to make the policy better. On September 5, 2008 one of the revisions in Medicare Part D was the use of Electronic Prescription Program (E-prescribing) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expects that Medicare Part D sponsors will have all the necessary contracts and systems in place should prescribers desire to use E-prescribing (Claudia Schlosberg, n. . ) As stated in the paragraph above with IT systems for physicians and health professionals using paperless system will maximize Medicare. This revision will not only help out pharmacies but help out physicians. Now this information will allows doctors to find out what prescriptions the patient has used in the past and where the patient usually goes to pick up his or her medications from. By revising this policy everyone in the medical community can deliver faster and better care for the individual.Since many senior citizens continue to do work, due to their low income, CMS has revised a section on Medicare Part D f or employers. Employers whom are offering medication drug coverage’s to Medicare individuals will now disclose to CMS if the plans the employer is offering are creditable. To make sure that the prescription drug plans are creditable, the plans must equal or exceed the actuarial value of defined standard prescription drug coverage under CMS guidelines (Kutak Rock, 2007).This revision in Medicare Part D is very important for seniors, this way seniors can know if the program that they have from work is creditable and make a decision on whether or not he or she should waive the enrollment of Medicare Part D. They employer must submit to CMS all the prescription drug plans that they offer to see if the plans follow CMS guidelines. Employers must also send out information to those individuals in the plan on or before the Medicare Part D enrollment date of November 15th of each year. Purpose and MethodologiesOne of the methodologies in Medicare Part D was to make sure senior citizen s get help with their drug prescription costs. Even thou CMS has many plans to choose from seniors need to do their part in researching some of the plans via internet, CMS hotline, and talking to their pharmacist. In turn the E-prescribing was another to help physicians and pharmacies to collect information more quickly without using any paper. By having everything computerized pharmacists can receive and gather information quickly compared to the old practice of using a fax machine.Using a computer eliminates misplaced fax paper, paper jams, or the fax did not go through. This saves time and money on both parts for the physician and pharmacists. IT software stimulus package the president Obama signed this year to help all healthcare professions to go paperless and receive patient’s information more quickly than before. This as well will save time and money for healthcare professionals in managing patient’s data to make sure all parties involved get the information the y need for billing and medical information.So these are just some of the purposes and methodologies for some changes in the Medicare Part D. Conclusion As more senior citizens coming into retirement Medicare Part D will be a major focus of discussion on the political front. Both Democrats and Republicans have different ideas on how to evaluate, analyze, and revise Medicare Part D. Of course, from the author’s perspective having IT software programs in place will help out indeed for all healthcare professionals and providers. Now with the Obama stimulus plan sign this year hopefully, all healthcare professions can be on the same track to get these IT systems in place.The benefits are enormous to getting information faster to the right people, especially in an emergency. Although CMS needs to do a better job on informing seniors about the prescription drug plans, so that way they can make better judgments on the plan they choose. Even better yet cut down on some of these plans these are way too many of them and they are confusing seniors on which plan to choose from. Either way policymakers from both sides need to work with healthcare professional to see what can be done to improve on Medicare Part D. References Chris Silvia (2009).Practices paperless before 2012 could maximize Medicare bonuses. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from http://www. ama-assn. org/amednews/2009/03/16/gvsa0316. htm Claudia Schlosberg (n. d. ). CMS Revises Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Manuel-Chapter 7 Medication Therapy Management and Quality Improvement Program. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from http://www. ascp. com/advocacy/upload/ASCP%20Summary%20of %20CMS%20Chap%207%20Revisions. pdf Kutak Rock (2007). Medicare Part D: CMS Revises Model Notice and Disclosure Notice Requirements. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from http://www. utakrock. com/publications/employeebenefits/EBCA1107. pdf Omini MD (2011). Medicaid, health IT to see billions from stimulus package signed by Obama. Retri eved December 2, 2011, from http://www. myemrstimulus. com/tag/emr-software/ Omni MD (n. d. ). Medicaid, health IT to see billions from stimulus package signed by Obama. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from http://www. myemrstimulus. com/tag/emr-software/ Terri Emerick (2006). Part D:Rx for Disaster. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from http://www. epluribusmedia. org/archives/features/2006/0511part_d. html

Lars Von Trier Essay

Lars Trier was born in Kongens Lyngby, north of Copenhagen, the son of Inger Trier (nà ©e Hà ¸st, 1915—1989). He had believed that his biological father was Ulf Trier (1907—1978), until his mother revealed to him on her deathbed that he had been conceived as a result of an affair she had with her employer, Fritz Michael Hartmann. His mother considered herself a Communist, while his father was a Social Democrat, and both were committed nudists,[5] and the young Lars went on several childhood holidays to nudist camps. They regarded the disciplining of children as reactionary. Trier has noted that he was brought up in an atheist family, and that although Ulf Trier was Jewish, he was not religious. His parents did not allow much room in their household for â€Å"feelings, religion, or enjoyment†, and also refused to make any rules for their children,[6] with complex results for von Trier’s personality and development.[7] He began making his own films at the age of 11 after receiving a Super-8 camera as a gift and continued to be involved in independent moviemaking throughout his high school years.[3] In 1979, he was enrolled in the National Film School of Denmark.[8] His peers at the film school nicknamed him â€Å"von Trier†. The name is sort of an inside-joke with the von (German â€Å"of† or â€Å"from† used as a nobiliary particle), suggesting nobility and a certain arrogance, while Lars is a very common and Trier not an unusual name in Denmark.[9] He reportedly kept the â€Å"von† name in homage to Erich von Stroheim and Josef von Sternberg, both of whom also added it later in life.[10] During his time as a student at the school he made the films Nocturne and The Last Detail, both of which won Best Film awards at the Munich International Festival of Film Schools.[11][12] In 1983 he graduated with the 57-minute Images of Liberation, which became the first Danish school film to receive a regular theatrical release.[13] Europe trilogy After graduation he began work on the very stylized crime drama, The Element of Crime (Forbrydelsens element 1984), which won a technical award at the Cannes Film Festival. His next film was Epidemic (1987), which was also shown at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. The film is partly a dark science fiction-tale of a future plague epidemic, and partly chronicles two filmmakers (played by Lars von Trier and screenwriter Niels Và ¸rsel) preparing that film, with the two storylines ultimately colliding. For television von Trier directed Medea (1988), which won the Jean d’Arcy prize in France. It was based on a screenplay by Carl Th. Dreyer and starred Udo Kier. He completed the Europe-trilogy in 1991 with Europa (released as Zentropa in the U.S.), which won the Prix du Jury at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival[14] and picked up awards at other major festivals. In 1990 he also directed the music video for the worldwide hit â€Å"Bakerman† by Laid Back.[15] This video was reused in 2006 by the English DJ and artist Shaun Baker who did a remake of Bakerman. Zentropa and The Kingdom In 1992 he and producer Peter Aalbà ¦k Jensen founded the movie production company Zentropa Entertainment, named after a train company in Europa, their most recent film at the time.[8] The reason for doing this was to achieve financial independence and to have total creative control. The production company has produced many movies other than von Trier’s own as well as television series. It also has produced hardcore sex films: Constance (1998), Pink Prison (1999), HotMen CoolBoyz (2000) and All About Anna (2005). In order to make money for his newly founded company,[16] he made The Kingdom (Riget, 1994) and The Kingdom II (Riget II, 1997), a pair of miniseries recorded in the Danish national hospital, the name â€Å"Riget† being a colloquial name for the hospital known as Rigshospitalet (lit. The Kingdom’s Hospital) in Danish. A projected third installment in the series was derailed by the 1998 death of Ernst-Hugo Jà ¤regà ¥rd, who played Helmer, one of the ma jor characters. Dogme 95 In 1995, Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg presented their manifesto for a new cinematic movement which they called Dogme 95. It would however take a while before the first of these films appeared, and at this point many thought of the concept mainly as a radical idea with no future.[citation needed] In 1996, von Trier conducted an unusual theatrical experiment in Copenhagen involving 53 actors, which he titled Psychomobile 1: The World Clock. A documentary chronicling the project was directed by Jesper Jargil, and was released in 2000 with the title De Udstillede (The Exhibited). Von Trier’s next film, Breaking the Waves (1996), the first film in von Trier’s ‘Golden Heart Trilogy’, won the Grand Prix at Cannes and featured Emily Watson, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Its grainy images and hand-held photography pointed towards Dogme 95. The second was The Idiots (1998), nominated for a Palme d’Or, which he presented in person at the Cannes Film Festival notwithstanding his dislike of travelling. Dancer in the Dark (2000) was the final component of the trilogy. As originator of the Dogme 95 concept, which has led to international interest in Danish film as a whole, he has inspired filmmakers all over the world.[17] Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the Dogme 95 Manifesto and the â€Å"Vow of Chastity† together with their fellow Dogme directors Kristian Levring and Sà ¸ren Kragh-Jacobsen shared in 2008 the European Film Award European Achievement in World Cinema. Explicit images Von Trier’s use of sexually explicit images in The Idiots (1998) started a wave[citation needed] of arthouse mainstream films with unsimulated sex, such as Catherine Breillat’s Romance (1999), Baise-Moi (2000), Intimacy (2001), Vincent Gallo’s The Brown Bunny (2003) and Michael Winterbottom’s 9 Songs (2004). In 1998, Lars von Trier also made history by having his company Zentropa be the world’s first mainstream film company to produce hardcore pornographic films. Three of these films, Constance (1998), Pink Prison (1999) and the adult/mainstream crossover-feature All About Anna (2005), were made primarily for a female audience, and were extremely successful in Europe, with the first two being directly responsible for the March 2006 legalizing of pornography in Norway.[18] Women too like to see other people having sex. What they don’t like is the endless close-ups of hammering bodyparts without a story. Lars von Trier is the first to have realised this and produced valuable quality porn films for women. — Stern No. 40, 27 September 2007[19] Lars von Trier’s initiative spearheaded a European wave of female-friendly porn films from directors such as Anna Span, Erika Lust and Petra Joy, while von Trier’s company Zentropa was forced to abandon the experiment due to pressure from English business partners.[20] In July 2009, women’s magazine Cosmopolitan ranked Pink Prison as No. 1 in its Top Five of the best women’s porn, calling it the â€Å"role model for the new porn-generation†.[21] Lars von Trier would return to explicit images in his self-directed Antichrist (2009), exploring darker themes. 2000s In 2000, von Trier premiered a musical featuring Icelandic musician Bjà ¶rk, Dancer in the Dark. The film won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.[22] The song â€Å"I’ve Seen It All† (which Trier co-wrote) received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song. The Five Obstructions (2003), made by Lars von Trier and Jà ¸rgen Leth, is a documentary, but also incorporates lengthy sections of experimental films. The premise is that Lars von Trier challenges director Jà ¸rgen Leth, his friend and mentor, to remake his old experimental film The Perfect Human (1967) five times, each time with a different ‘obstruction’ (or obstacle) specified by von Trier.[23] He then directed two films in his announced ‘U.S. trilogy’: Dogville (2003), starring Nicole Kidman and Manderlay (2005), starring Bryce Dallas Howard in the same role – as Grace. Both films are extremely stylized, with the actors playing their parts on a nearly empty soundstage with little but chalk marks on the floor to indicate the sets. Both films had huge casts of major international actors (Harriet Andersson, Lauren Bacall, James Caan, Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, etc.), and questioned various issues relating to American society, such as intolerance in Dogville and slavery in Manderlay. Controversy erupted on the 2004 set for Manderlay when actor John C. Reilly walked off the Trollhà ¤ttan, Sweden, set in late March. Reilly walked off the film when he learned that an upcoming scene involved the slaughter of a donkey for food. The film’s producer says the animal—who was old and not expected to live much longer—was killed off-camera by a certified veterinarian, in accordance with Swedish law. Reilly was replaced by Zeljko Ivanek.[24] The U.S. was also the scene for Dear Wendy (2005), a feature film directed by von Trier’s â€Å"Dogme-brother† Thomas Vinterberg from a script by von Trier. It starred Jamie Bell and Bill Pullman and dealt with gun worship and violence in American soci ety. In 2006, von Trier released a Danish-language comedy film, The Boss of it All. It was shot using a process that von Trier has called Automavision, which involves the director choosing the best possible fixed camera position and then allowing a computer to randomly choose when to tilt, pan or zoom. It was followed by an autobiographical film, De unge à ¥r: Erik Nietzsche sagaen del 1 (2007), scripted by von Trier but directed by Jacob Thuesen, which tells the story of von Trier’s years as a student at the National Film School of Denmark. It stars Jonatan Spang as von Trier’s alter ego, called â€Å"Erik Nietzsche†, and is narrated by von Trier himself. All main characters in the film are based on real people from the Danish film industry,[citation needed] with the thinly veiled portrayals including Jens Albinus as director Nils Malmros, Dejan ÄÅ'ukić as screenwriter Mogens Rukov and Sà ¸ren Pilmark in an especially unflattering portrayal as sex-obsessed sch ool principal Henning Camre. Von Trier’s next feature film was Antichrist, an art film about â€Å"a grieving couple who retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping a return to Eden will repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage; but nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse†. The film, which includes sexually explicit content, stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It premiered in competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where the festival’s jury honoured the movie by giving the Best Actress award to Gainsbourg.[25] The Cannes Film Festival Ecumenical Jury, which gives prizes for movies that promote spiritual, humanist and universal values, also â€Å"honoured† the film with a special â€Å"anti-award†; a spokesman for the jury described it as â€Å"the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world.†[26] In 2010 the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported on their website that the film production company Zentropa is reportedly making more revenue from suing movie pirates in Germany that have downloaded Antichrist illegally than from box office and DVD sales, demanding a payment of around 1,300 euros per download to avoid legal action.[27] 2010s Von Trier’s latest work is Melancholia, a psychological disaster drama;[28] shot between 22 July and 8 September 2010 at Film i Và ¤st’s studios in Trollhà ¤ttan, Sweden,[29] and with exteriors in the area surrounding the Tjolà ¶holm Castle.[30] Magnolia Pictures has acquired the distribution rights for North America.[31] The film was in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.[32] Von Trier announced that after finishing Melancholia he hopes to begin production of The Nymphomaniac, a two-part film about the sexual awakening of a woman (Charlotte Gainsbourg).[33] The director explained how he got the idea for the upcoming project: â€Å"my DP on [Melancholia], Manuel Claro, at one point voiced a surprising prejudice. He urged me not to fall into the trap that so many aging directors fall into – that the women get younger and younger and nuder and nuder. That’s all I needed to hear. I most definitely intend for the women in my films to get younger and younger and nuder and nuder†.[34] The announced cast includes Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgà ¥rd, Shia LaBeouf, Willem Dafoe, Connie Nielsen, Jamie Bell, Jens Albinus, Jesper Christensen and Nicole Kidman. Phobias Von Trier suffers from multiple phobias, including an intense fear of flying.[35] His fear of air travel frequently places severely limiting constraints on him and his crew, necessitating that virtually all of his films be shot in either Denmark or Sweden, even those set in the United States or other foreign countries. Von Trier has had a number of his films featured at the Cannes Film Festival over the course of his career, and each time has insisted on driving from Denmark to France for the festival and back. On numerous occasions von Trier has also stated that he suffers from occasional depression which renders him incapable of performing his work and unable to fulfill social obligations.[36] Filming techniques Lars von Trier has said that â€Å"a film should be like a stone in your shoe†. In order to create original art he feels that filmmakers must distinguish themselves stylistically from other films, often by placing restrictions on the filmmaking process. The most famous restriction is the cinematic â€Å"vow of chastity† of the Dogme95 movement with which he is associated, though only one of his films, The Idiots, is an actual Dogme 95 film. In Dancer in the Dark, jump shots[37] and dramatically-different color palettes and camera techniques were used for the â€Å"real world† and musical portions of the film, and in Dogville everything was filmed on a sound stage with no set where the walls of the buildings in the fictional town were marked as lines on the floor. Von Trier often shoots digitally and operates the camera himself, preferring to continuously shoot the actors in-character without stopping between takes. In Dogville he let actors stay in character for hours, in the style of method acting. These techniques often put great strain on actors, most famously with Bjà ¶rk during the filming of Dancer in the Dark. Often he uses the same regular group of actors in many of his films: some of his frequently used actors are Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier and Stellan Skarsgà ¥rd. He is heavily influenced by the work of Carl Theodor Dreyer[38] and the film The Night Porter.[39] He was so inspired by the short film The Perfect Human directed by Jà ¸rgen Leth that he challenged Leth to redo the short five times in feature film The Five Obstructions.[40] Trilogies Von Trier has on occasion referred to his films as falling into thematic and stylistic trilogies. This pattern began with his first feature film, marking the beginning of The Europa Trilogy, though he claims a trilogy was not initially planned, instead being applied to the films in retrospect. The Europe trilogy illuminated the traumas of Europe in the past and future. This trilogy includes The Element of Crime (1984), Epidemic (1987) and Europa (1991). The Golden Heart trilogy was about naive heroines who maintain their ‘golden hearts’ despite the tragedies they experience. This trilogy consists of Breaking the Waves (1996), The Idiots (1998) and Dancer in the Dark (2000). While all three films are sometimes associated with the Dogme 95 movement, only The Idiots is a certified Dogme 95 film. The USA: Land of Opportunities trilogy follows the character of Grace, and is set in a stylized American past. Von Trier has stated he was inspired to make a trilogy about the United States as a reaction to Americans at the Cannes film festival who said he had no right to make the Dancer in the Dark,[8] which was often viewed as being critical of a country he has never been to (and has no intention of ever visiting, due to his phobia of travel); however, von Trier himself has stated in interviews he did not intend it to be a criticism of America, saying the film takes place in a â€Å"fictional America†. Von Trier proposed the films as ‘a series of sermons on America’s sins and hypocrisy’[citation needed], inspired by the fact that American movie makers have made many movies about places across the world to which they have not travelled. All three movies will be shot in the same distinctive style, on a bare sound stage with no set and buildings marked by lines on the floor. This style is inspired by 1970s televised theatre. The trilogy will consist of Dogville (2003), Manderlay (2005) and the so far not produced Washington. The Depression Trilogy consists of Antichrist, Melancholia and the yet to be completed, Nymphomaniac. All three star Charlotte Gainsbourg and deal with characters that deal with depression or grief in different ways. This trilogy is said to represent the current depression that von Trier himself is currently going through. The Kingdom (Riget) was planned as a trilogy of three seasons with 13 episodes in total, but the third season was not filmed due to death of star Ernst-Hugo Jà ¤regà ¥rd shortly after completion of the second season. Biological father In 1989, von Trier’s mother revealed on her deathbed that the man who he thought was his father was not, and that she had had a tryst with her former employer, Fritz Michael Hartmann (1909–2000),[41] who descended from a long line of Roman Catholic classical musicians (his grandfather was Emil Hartmann, his great grandfather J.P.E. Hartmann, his uncles included Niels Gade and Johan Ernst Hartmann and thus Niels Viggo Bentzon was his cousin). She stated that she did this in order to give her son â€Å"artistic genes†.[42] Until that point I thought I had a Jewish background. But I’m really more of a Nazi. I believe that my biological father’s German family went back two further generations. Before she died, my mother told me to be happy that I was the son of this other man. She said my foster father had had no goals and no strength. But he was a loving man. And I was very sad about this revelation. And you then feel manipulated when you really do tur n out to be creative. If I’d known that my mother had this plan, I would have become something else. I would have shown her. The slut![43] During the German occupation of Denmark, Fritz Michael Hartmann worked as a civil servant and joined a resistance group (Frit Danmark), actively counteracting any pro-German and pro-Nazi colleagues in his department.[44] Another member of this infiltrative resistance group was Hartmann’s colleague Viggo Kampmann, who would later become prime minister of Denmark.[45] After four awkward meetings with his biological father, the man refused further contact.[46] The revelations led von Trier to attempt to â€Å"erase† the connections with his stepfather by converting to Catholicism, and to rework his filmmaking into a style emphasizing â€Å"honesty†.[3] I don’t know if I’m all that Catholic really. I’m probably not. Denmark is a very Protestant country. Perhaps I only turned Catholic to piss off a few of my countrymen.[43] In 2009, he declared, â€Å"I’m a very bad Catholic. In fact I’m becoming more and more of an atheist.†[47] Controversy at 2011 Cannes Film Festival On 19 May 2011, Cannes Film Festival’s board of directors declared von Trier persona non grata for comments he made during a press conference for his film Melancholia the day before, an unprecedented move for the film festival.[48][49] Responding to a question by The Times film critic Kate Muir about his German roots and his comments in a Danish film magazine about the Nazi aesthetic, von Trier claimed to have some sympathy for and understanding of Adolf Hitler,[50] and then jokingly claimed to be a Nazi himself:[51][52] Von Trier at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. †¦ He’s not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I’m not for the Second World War, and I’m not against Jews. †¦ I am of course very much for Jews, no not too much, because Israel is pain in the ass, but still how can I get out of this sentence. †¦ — Press Conference for Melancholia, Cannes, 2011[53][54] Referring to the art of Nazi architect Albert Speer, von Trier added: †¦ he had some talent that was kind of possible for him to use during†¦ Ok, I’m a Nazi. Then, to Toronto Star film critic Peter Howell, who questioned whether Melancholia could be an answer to Hollywood blockbusters and asked von Trier if he could â€Å"envision doing a film on a grander scale than this†, von Trier replied: On a grander scale? Yeah. Yeah that’s what we Nazis, we have a tendency to do things on a greater scale. Yeah, maybe you could persuade me into the final solution with journalists. †¦ Hours later, von Trier released a brief statement of apology about his comments at the press conference: â€Å"If I have hurt someone this morning by the words I said at the press conference, I sincerely apologise. I am not anti-semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi.†[55] The next day, the festival directors held an extraordinary meeting, deciding his remarks were â€Å"unacceptable, intolerable and contrary to the ideals of humanity and generosity that preside over the very existence of the festival. [†¦] The board of directors condemns these comments and declares Lars von Trier persona non grata at the Festival de Cannes, with effect immediately.†[55] Afterwards, von Trier held a news conference of his own in Danish. His first remark to the Danish journalists was: â€Å"If any of you journalists will beat me, so just do it. I will enjoy it.† He went on to say that â€Å"The Holocaust is the worst crime that ever happened. I have nothing against Jews. I have a Jewish name, and all my children have Jewish names.† He admitted that his remarks about the Nazis had been misguided, saying â€Å"It was really stupidly done and it was in the wrong forum. At the press conference with Danish journalists, there were no problems, but I do not think the international journalists understand my Danish humor.† But he also said he was proud to have been kicked out of the Cannes festival: â€Å"I am proud to have been declared ‘persona non grata’. It is perhaps the first time in cinematic history, it has happened. †¦ I think one reason is that French people treated the Jews badly during World War II. Therefore, it is a sensitive topic for them. I respect the Cannes festival very highly, but I also understand that they are very angry at me right now.†[56][55] Speaking to other news outlets he said that his comments were â€Å"very sarcastic and very rude, but that’s very Danish.† He also added, â€Å"I don’t sympathize with Hitler for one second.†[57] In the October 2011 issue of GQ, von Trier is quoted in an interview saying he was not really sorry for the comments he made, only sorry he didn’t make it clear that he was joking. He added, â€Å"I can’t be sorry for what I said—it’s against my nature.†[58] On 5 October 2011, von Trier was interviewed by police in Denmark about his remarks at Cannes. Afterwards, he announced that he had ‘decided from this day forth to refrain from all public statements and interviews’.[59] Honours Von Trier was made a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog on 14 January 1997.[60] Ten years later von Trier decided to hand back the prize, saying that the Danish royal family are just â€Å"simple people of bad quality†.[61]