title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Due to French political upheaval resulting in an enforced separation of Church and State, the property and grounds of the sanctuary were confiscated from the Church and returned to the ownership of the town in 1910. The then bishop, François-Xavier Schoepfer, contested this confiscation and was permitted to rent the area of the sanctuary from the town until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Later, a visit to Lourdes by Marshal Pétain in 1941 provided official recognition of the sanctuary. Church officials successfully petitioned Pétain to allow the Church to reclaim ownership of the sanctuary .


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes is responsible for the spiritual governance of the sanctuary. He appoints a local representative, who is called the rector. The sanctuary is run independently of the parish of Lourdes, which is responsible for the spiritual needs of the Lourdais themselves.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Thirty full-time chaplains are employed in the sanctuary, from dioceses and religious communities worldwide. there were 292 full-time lay employees and a further 120 seasonal employees working in 63 different divisions, with an annual running budget of €18 million, 90% from donations.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The sanctuary is open all year round. In winter there are many fewer visitors, a reduced timetable of services and devotional activity, and no processions. The winter season runs from 1 November (the feast of All Saints) until Easter. On 11 February, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, a full programme of activities usually takes place.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The sanctuary is fully active between Easter and All Saints' Day each year, and has a programme of devotional activities including mass, processions, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and the sacrament of reconciliation. Many activities are carried out in several languages; in some services the liturgy is repeated in different languages.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The grounds are open daily from 5 am until midnight; outside these times the grotto is accessible via the Lacets Gate behind the Upper Basilica.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: An estimated 200 million people have visited the shrine since 1860 . The Roman Catholic Church has officially recognized 70 miracle healings, the 70th of which was the cure of Sister Bernadette Moriau, recognised on 11 February 2018.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Lourdes water flows from a spring at the same spot where it was discovered by Bernadette, in the grotto of Massabielle. The original spring can be seen within the grotto, lit from below and protected by a glass screen. Pilgrims drink Lourdes water due to its reputed healing power. The water is accessed from individual taps located between the grotto and the baths. The water from Lourdes was thoroughly analysed by independent chemists in 1858 and 1859, and does not appear to have a latent power to cure and has no special scientific or medicinal properties. Despite this, the water is itself a strong symbol of devotion for Lourdes pilgrims, and many buy statues and rosary beads containing small vials of it, and take home large plastic containers of it.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Processions are held in the sanctuary, with the torchlight trocession being perhaps the best-known and most visually impressive.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The Blessed Sacrament procession is held daily at 5:00 pm. The procession begins at the open-air altar on the prairie across the river from the grotto and is led by sick pilgrims followed by a priest, bishop or cardinal carrying a monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament. Typically the bearer of the Blessed Sacrament is sheltered from the elements by a mobile canopy, called a baldachin, carried by four assistants. The Blessed Sacrament is accompanied by bearers carrying candles, incense burners or other devotional symbols. These bearers are lay helpers chosen from the pilgrims. Following directly behind the Blessed Sacrament, both during the procession and the blessing of the sick, will be a representative group of doctors from the various pilgrimages. Lastly, there are groups of pilgrims, some following their parish or diocesan banner. The procession makes its way across the river, past the Crowned Statue, along the esplanade and down into the St. Pius X underground basilica where the sick pilgrims are placed at the front of the altar. During the procession there are meditations, prayers, hymns and chants, in several languages. When all the participants have assembled, there is a period of Eucharistic Adoration, followed by the Blessing of the Sick.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The torchlight marian procession takes place daily at 9.00pm. It begins near the grotto and continues in the alleys of the esplanade ending in the Rosary square. In extreme weather an indoor ceremony may be held in the Underground Basilica instead. The procession is led by sick pilgrims followed by volunteers carrying a replica of the Cabuchet statue of the Virgin Mary. Most participants carry a candle.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The focus of this procession is the rosary. All five decades are recited, usually in a variety of languages. The Lourdes Hymn is also sung, with verses in different languages. Intercessions may be invoked followed by the "Laudate Mariam". There is a final blessing in Latin, and then an invitation to exchange the sign of peace with fellow pilgrims.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, commonly known as the "Upper Basilica", was consecrated in 1876. It is an impressive, elaborate building in Gothic style, designed by architect Hyppolyte Durand, and on one side seems to emerge directly from the rock of Massabielle (the sanctuary is directly above the grotto). The walls are lined with "ex voto" plaques, and banners from official National Pilgrimages of the past. It has a series of stained-glass windows depicting various events in the story of Lourdes; the clerestory windows depict Mary as the Second Eve.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The exterior is dominated by a 70m spire, and two lesser spires completed later in 1908. Above the entrance is a mosaic depicting Pope Pius IX, who defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The basilica has a crypt, which was the first church to be completed in the sanctuary, in 1866. Construction was started by Abbé Peyramale and bishop Laurence. Bernadette's father worked on its construction and was present at its official opening, on Pentecost Sunday, 1866. The nave is small and a notable feature as are the enormous pillars which support the weight of the Upper Basilica, which was constructed on top of it.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The crypt is entered along a corridor, whose entrance is dominated by a large bronze statue of St. Peter, holding the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Opposite stands a statue of Pius X. The walls of the corridor and nave are lined with small marble plaques, known as "ex voto" plaques, donated in thanks of spiritual favours received.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The Rosary Basilica, known as the "Lower Basilica", was completed in 1899, and designed by architect Leopold Hardy. It was consecrated in 1901 and has a capacity of 1,500 worshipers. Its style is influenced by Byzantine architecture. The nave is open and circular, surmounted by a dome. The exterior of the dome is surmounted by a dramatic gilded crown and cross, which were a gift from the people of Ireland in 1924.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The exterior facade of the basilica was modified in 2007 to include a depiction of the luminous mysteries, which are not a part of the traditional fifteen mysteries, but of an extended version of it by Pope John Paul II in 2002.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The Basilica of St. Pius X, known as the "Underground Basilica", is the largest and most controversial of the sanctuary's churches. It was designed by the architect Pierre Vago and completed in 1958 in anticipation of the enormous crowds expected in Lourdes for the centenary of the apparitions. A modern, concrete building, it is almost entirely underground (part of the building lies beneath the Boulevard Père Rémi Sempé above). When full it can accommodate 25,000 worshippers.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The place where Bernadette Soubirous is said to have seen the Lourdes apparitions is called the "grotto of Massabielle", which is the most famous place in the sanctuary. The Lourdes water flows from a spring located inside the cave. From 2014 to 2018, the surroundings of the grotto were modified to facilitate the passing of pilgrims through the various facilities around the grotto. A new esplanade was built on the banks, taps providing water from the spring were moved away from the grotto while new fountains for pilgrims were created, baths were renovated and a new bridge was built. Chapel of lights were built on the right bank for pilgrims to light candels.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: In contrast to the grandness of Rosary Square and the three basilicas, the grotto at Massabielle where St Bernadette's visions took place is very simple and stark. The recess of the grotto itself is undecorated, although a plain stone altar and lectern have been placed there so that Mass can be celebrated. Above the main recess is the niche where the "lady" seen by Bernadette Soubirous was standing during the apparitions and Fabisch's statue of Our Lady of Lourdes now stands. A large candelabra with 96 candles next to the altar is kept burning throughout the year. During the pilgrimage season, two pilgrimage masses are usually celebrated each morning at the grotto.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The spring Bernadette is said to have discovered can be seen at the rear of the grotto, shielded by a glass cover. When mass is not being celebrated, pilgrims can process through the grotto where it is traditional to touch the rocks directly under the statue; so many people have done this that the stones have become polished. Also at the rear of the grotto is a metal box into which written prayers or petitions may be deposited; they are collected daily and burnt.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Rows of benches allow visitors to sit and pray or contemplate. Pilgrims are asked to remain silent while in the vicinity to create an atmosphere of devotion. One of the spots where Bernadette prayed to the Virgin is marked by a special paving slab.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Some of the rock walls around the grotto bear clear signs of deliberate alteration, presumably to improve access for pilgrims. It is therefore no longer clear what the original configuration of the grotto was.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: At least one contemporary account describes a series of chambers behind the statue's niche, which can only be reached by climbing "like a lizard" through clefts in the rocks.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Lourdes water used to be available for pilgrims at water taps located near the grotto along the Massabielle rock. However, people in charge of the sanctuary thought it would be better to have two separate places for Lourdes water distribution, with one place available for drinking water and filling bottles and containers with water and another place intended for pilgrims to take water as a religious gesture, in the same way Bernadette Soubirous did during the apparitions when she was told by the "lady" to drink water from the spring and wash herself with it. This is why new fountains were created for the "water gesture" on the western side of the grotto along the Massabielle rock, shaped to made it difficult to fill bottles and containers, with a low water flow. New water taps were built on the bank, intended to filling bottles and containers with Lourdes water, away from the grotto.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: In addition to washing their face at the fountains, pilgrims can immerse in baths filled with Lourdes water (called "piscines" in French, meaning "pools"). This is also meant to repeat a gesture made by Bernadette Soubirous during the apparitions as she washed herself with the water after she was told to do so by the "lady". The original baths were built in 1862 and the current baths in 1955. They are located on the western side of the grotto along the Massabielle rock. Pilgrims are helped by volunteers for a full immersion into the bath. Each year about 350,000 pilgrims bath. It is not allowed to take pictures or videos.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Lighting a votive candle is another religious gesture that Bernadette Soubirous made during the apparitions and which is now part of the Lourdes pilgrimage. Pilgrims used to light candles near the grotto, along the Massabielle rock. Now they have to cross the Gave de Pau river on a new bridge to reach the "chapels of light", where all candles are meant to be lighted. Around 800 tonnes of wax is burnt annually in devotional candles. Pilgrims can place candles of various sizes, some of them bring large candles from their respective parishes. The candle bruners are tended by a staff of "feutiers", attendants whose job is to ensure candles are burnt safely and evenly and to remove the trays of melted wax which collects under each burner. In July 2022, four candle chapels were damaged by a fire caused by candles and are currently closed.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: In addition to the three basilicas and the grotto area, the sanctuary has various places of worship and places intended for the pilgrims.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The most recent of the major centres of worship is the Church of St. Bernadette, which was consecrated in 1988. It was built opposite the grotto across the river, on the spot where Bernadette Soubirous stood during the final 18th apparition on 16 July 1858.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The Church of St. Bernadette is a brutalist building with comparatively little adornment. It was designed to allow as much natural light as possible into the nave, and light-coloured materials have been used, making it noticeably brighter than the Underground Basilica. It was designed by the architect Jean-Paul Felix.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: It is also a more versatile building. The nave has provision for 5,000 seated worshippers and 350 wheelchairs, but partitions can be drawn which divide the nave into smaller sections. In addition, it includes the hemicycle, a large lecture room which may be used for worship, and an assortment of conference rooms and smaller rooms which may be used for devotional or non-devotional activity.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The chapel of reconciliation formerly occupied a site slightly more remote, at the entrance of the upper stations of the Cross. It was moved several years ago into a more prominent position, into the building previously known as the Accueil Notre Dame, near the crowned statue and facing the esplanade.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The chapel of reconciliation is somewhat unusual in that no masses or other services take place there; instead it is given over entirely to the sacrament of reconciliation. Priests from different countries observe a duty roster, which means that, at almost any time of day, pilgrims from Europe (and occasionally further away) can find a priest who will hear their confession in their own language.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: St. Joseph's Chapel, named in honor of Mary's husband Saint Joseph, is situated at the far end of the esplanade, near St. Michael's Gate. It is a modern, concrete church, mostly underground, with little natural light. It was also designed by Pierre Vago, and was consecrated on 1 May 1968. It has provision for 450 seated worshipers and 80 wheelchairs.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The open space in front of the Rosary Basilica is known as "Rosary Square". The entrances to the Upper Basilica and its crypt, both of which are built on top of the Massabielle rock, are far above ground level. To facilitate access, two enormous ramps were constructed, which curve down either side of Rosary Square. The image of the entrance of the Rosary Basilica, flanked by the two ramps and surmounted by the spires of the Upper Basilica, has become one of the iconic symbols of Lourdes, and a stylised form of this image has been adopted by the sanctuary itself as its logo.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The statue of the Crowned Virgin is a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes very similar to the statue in the grotto of Massabielle. It has been known as the "crowned statue" after its canonical coronation on 3 July 1876 by papal legate Pier Francesco Meglia. The statue stands across Rosary Square from the Rosary Basilica and faces the entrance. This prominent statue is a familiar landmark and a traditional meeting point. The statue is 2.5m high and cast in bronze, painted white and blue in the traditional colours. Her rosary is of the Birgittine style and incorporates six decades. Behind the Crowned Statue is the "Esplanade", a large open walkway which is used for the processions.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Across the Gave from the grotto is a wide, open, uncluttered space covered with grass and known in French as the "prairie", or in English, the meadow. In the corner of the "prairie" is the tent-like chapel of adoration, consecrated in 1995 and given over entirely to veneration of the Blessed Sacrament, There is also an open-air altar for outdoor ceremonies. In 2002 the Water Walk was introduced, across the Gave and slightly downstream from the grotto. It consists of a series of nine stations of the Cross at which there is a small Lourdes water font.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The sanctuary include a calvary built on the Espelugues hill, located south of the grotto and the basilicas. The Espelugues hill is separated from the central part of the sanctuary by the avenue Mgr Théas and the route de la Forêt. The Espelugues lands extending over the hill were acquired by the missionaries of Garaison, which were in charge of the sanctuary's administration. The first station was built in 1901, and the calvary was inaugurated in 1912.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The stations of the Cross feature a total of 115 characters which are slightly larger than average human size. The calvary extends on a course of around 1,500 meters, starting close to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception and climbing up to the 13th station then descending back to the basilicas and the grotto. It includes the fourteen traditional stations of the passion of Christ and a fifteenth station, the resurrection of Christ, added in 1958. To reach the first station, a stone staircase of 28 steps is reminiscent of the Scala Sancta in Rome, with some pilgrims also climbing it and on their knees.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Across the river from the grotto and the churches is the Accueil Notre Dame, a modern facility built in 1996 to house sick pilgrims during their time in Lourdes.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The Accueil Notre Dame was built to replace two older residencies for pilgrims. The old Accueil Notre Dame stood opposite the Underground Basilica, and has been extensively remodelled, being divided into two buildings by removing a section. One building now contains the Chapel of Reconciliation, which used to be the refectory, and also houses the convent of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers. The other section is now known as the Accueil John Paul II, and contains several chapels, the First Aid post and Dispensary, and the offices of the Hospitalité. The other was the Accueil St. Bernadette, which stood across the river from the old Accueil Notre Dame, and was demolished to make way for the new one.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Since Easter 1997 sick pilgrims from all over the world have been housed in the Accueil Notre Dame, an airy modern building. The Accueil is organised into two wings, each consisting of six storeys, with the Reception area on the ground floor and the Transit Lounge on the fifth. Each floor from one to four is named after a specific saint, with female saints honoured on one side and male ones on the other. Each floor has a central refectory area where pilgrims congregate to eat.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: The rooms, each with bathroom and shower, accommodate from one to six people. Each room has a window, with some fortunate ones having a view of the grotto, and storage cupboards and a table and chairs. Each room opens onto a communal area.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Linking the two sides is the Administration Area, with two panoramic lifts bringing visitors to each floor. The administration offices are on the sixth and seventh floors, and there are kitchens for each side.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Typically, pilgrims arrive at the Accueil Notre Dame in specially adapted buses, either from Lourdes airport or train station, and will be welcomed in the transit lounge from where they are taken to their rooms.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Another residency, the Accueil Marie St. Frai, is located a short distance outside the sanctuary; it is similar in design and atmosphere to the Accueil Notre Dame.


title: Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

text: Modern Lourdes contains many souvenir shops. Some visitors may dislike the commercialism of parts of Lourdes, with neon-emblazoned shops overflowing with what Malcolm Muggeridge, a supporter of the shrine, called "tawdry relics, the bric-a-brac of piety". Lourdes has been called the "Disneyland of the Catholic Church". Critics argue that the Lourdes phenomenon is nothing more than a significant money-spinner for the town and the region, which therefore has a strong vested interest in keeping the pilgrims coming. The church, however, distances itself from commercialisation. The many trinket stalls are privately owned, and hawkers are strictly forbidden inside the sanctuary.


title: Pixel 4

text: The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successors to the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. They were officially announced on October 15, 2019 at the Made by Google event and released in the United States on October 24, 2019. On September 30, 2020, they were succeeded by the Pixel 5.


title: Pixel 4

text: In the United States, the Pixel 4 is the first Pixel phone to be offered for sale by all major wireless carriers at launch. Previous flagship Pixel models had launched as exclusives to Verizon and Google Fi; the midrange Pixel 3a was additionally available from Sprint and T-Mobile, but not AT&T, at its launch. As with all other Pixel releases, Google is offering unlocked U.S. versions through its website.


title: Pixel 4

text: The phones were officially announced on October 15, 2019 and released in the United States on October 24, 2019. On January 10, 2020, Pixel 4 price dropped below the Black Friday prices. They were discontinued in August 2020.


title: Pixel 4

text: The Pixel 4 and 4 XL are constructed using an aluminum frame and Gorilla Glass 5. The devices are available in Just Black, Clearly White, and Oh So Orange colors, with the white and orange models having a matte, "soft touch" glass finish, and the black model having a glossy finish. The frame is painted black on all models, while the power button is accented and made from plastic.


title: Pixel 4

text: The USB-C connector at the bottom of the device is used for charging and audio output, though neither USB-C headphones nor a USB-C to 3.5mm jack adapter are included in the box. Both have stereo speakers, but unlike the Pixel 3, only one of the speakers is front-firing, with the other speaker located to the right of the USB-C port. Neither model includes a fingerprint reader; facial recognition (using a dot projector, infrared emitters and cameras along the top bezel of the device) is the only biometric authentication method offered by the Pixel 4.


title: Pixel 4

text: Both models use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 system-on-chip (consisting of eight Kryo 485 CPU cores, an Adreno 640 GPU and a Hexagon 690 DSP), with 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM. Models are available with 64 or 128GB of non-expandable internal storage. Battery sizes differ, with the Pixel 4 using a 2800mAh cell and the Pixel 4 XL using a 3700mAh cell. Both are capable of fast-charging at up to 18W, and support Qi wireless charging. Like their predecessors, the phones have a water protection rating of IP68 under IEC standard 60529. The Pixel 4 also features the Pixel Neural Core and Knowles 8508A audio processor. The Pixel Neural Core is the successor to the Pixel Visual Core; it, too, uses the Edge TPU architecture.


title: Pixel 4

text: The Pixel 4 features an OLED display manufactured by Samsung with HDR support, that operates at a refresh rate of up to 90Hz; it dynamically adjusts depending on content to preserve battery life. Both models use a wider 19:9 aspect ratio, with the Pixel 4 using a 1080p panel, and the 4 XL using a 1440p panel. Unlike the Pixel 3 XL, the Pixel 4 XL's display does not contain a cutout, or notch.


title: Pixel 4

text: The Pixel 4 includes dual rear-facing cameras located within a raised square module. It houses a wide 28mm 77° 1.7 lens with the same Sony Exmor IMX363 12.2-megapixel sensor as on the Pixel 3 and 3a, and a second telephoto 48mm 2.4 lens with a 16-megapixel sensor. Both are capable of recording video at 4K resolution, but can only do so at 30fps whereas most competitors support 60fps as well. In a tweet, Google stated that "We find that the majority of users stick with 1080p, so we focus our energy on improving our quality in this mode, versus enabling a 4k 60fps mode that could use up to half a gigabyte of storage every minute". Google claims the Pixel 4 can capture 8x zoom at near-optical quality. Additionally, it uses Google Camera 7.1 with software enhancements, including Live HDR+ with dual exposure controls, improved Night Sight with Astrophotography mode and improved Portrait Mode with more realistic Bokeh. It includes a single ultra wide (90°) front-facing camera with an 8-megapixel sensor, unlike the Pixel 3 which included ultra wide (97°) and wide (75°) front-facing cameras, both of which also had 8-megapixel sensors. The Pixel 4's astrophotography mode is able to stack together 16 exposures, each with an exposure time of 15 seconds.


title: Pixel 4

text: The Pixel 4 marks the introduction of Motion Sense, a radar-based gesture recognition system. It is based on the Project Soli technology developed by Google ATAP as an alternative to light-based systems such as infrared. Motion Sense can be used for detecting a user's proximity to the device to activate the always-on display or power the screen on, and waving gestures that can be used in supported apps (such as skipping tracks in the music player, and an interactive "Pokémon" demo app).


title: Pixel 4

text: Due to its use of 60GHz frequency bands, Google was required to obtain specific regulatory approval for the radar system in all countries that the Pixel 4 is being sold. As such, the feature is geoblocked if the device is detected to be in an unsupported country. On launch, Google stated that support for the feature was currently limited to Australia, Canada, "most European countries", Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States, but that Japan was "coming soon". Google stated that it had no plans to sell the Pixel 4 in India, with the company officially stating a preference to continue marketing the Pixel 3a in the region; media outlets noted that civilian use of the 60GHz frequency is prohibited in India, unlike in the U.S. and some other countries, where it is considered unlicensed spectrum.


title: Pixel 4

text: The Pixel 4 ships with Android 10 and Google Camera 7.1. The devices feature several features powered by their Pixel Neural Core (the successor to the Pixel Visual Core) and Knowles 8508A audio processor. In addition to its existing use for computational photography image processing, they are used by the new Recorder and Live Transcribe apps. Recorder is a voice recorder with live transcription, classification and searchable sounds. Also the "new" Google Assistant, which contains enhancements to allow for increased client-side recognition of commands that are local to the device (rather than querying Google servers).


title: Pixel 4

text: After Google demonstrated astrophotography sample photos, a scene of San Francisco with the moon blown out and the woods underexposed was shown. Marc Levoy explained that the difference in light between the moon and woods was too significant, requiring 19 stops of dynamic range which no phone or DSLR camera was currently capable of performing. He reaffirmed Google's commitment to improving the camera with software updates (a signature of the Pixel line) and said to stay tuned.


title: Pixel 4

text: The Pixel 4 received an overall score of 112 from DXOMARK, a 10-point improvement over its predecessor. It had a photo score of 117, a video score of 101, and a selfie score of 92. The camera was particularly praised for its performance in low light situations.


title: Pixel 4

text: The Pixel 4 and 4 XL were praised by critics for their photography capabilities, the move to 6GB of RAM from 4GB, and the 90Hz refresh rate screen. They were criticized for their poor battery life (especially on the smaller Pixel 4), the low amount of non-expandable storage, the lack of an ultra-wide angle camera lens, the removal of the fingerprint sensor in favor of the secure Face Unlock, the lack of 4K 60fps video recording, the lack of headphones or an adapter in the box, the Motion Sense system's poor detection, and the high price compared to other flagship smartphones. Google was also criticized for not providing unlimited uncompressed photo and video cloud storage like its Pixel predecessors had.


title: Pixel 4

text: "Ars Technica" gave the device a mixed pre-release review, noting that the etched finish of the orange and white models felt stronger than that of the Pixel 3 without compromising its "soft" and "grippy" feel, but that the screen bezels looked "lopsided". The Motion Sense system was panned for its reliance on hand waving gestures that were "so big that it's a cumbersome, tiring, annoying thing to do." This was contrasted with early demonstrations of the technology being able to detect "sub-millimeter motions at high speed and accuracy", noting that Google's admitted need to downsize the radar chip in order to fit into a smartphone may have compromised its capabilities. Ars Technica's in-depth review concluded that "This year, the Pixel 4 feels like a bunch of software decisions designed to prop up hardware that has been cost-cut to death".


title: Vidura

text: Vidura (Sanskrit: विदुर, lit. "skilled", "intelligent" or "wise"), also known as Kshatri, plays a key role in the Hindu epic "Mahabharata". He is described as the prime minister of the Kuru kingdom and is the paternal uncle of both the Pandavas and the Kauravas.


title: Vidura

text: The sage Mandavya cursed Yama that he would be born as a maid's son for getting him impaled without a valid reason. He was born in the mortal world as Vidura.


title: Vidura

text: Vidura was born through Niyoga between the sage Vyasa and Parishrami, a handmaiden to the queens Ambika and Ambalika. Ambika first mated with Vyasa but kept her eyes closed during their love making because his appearance and power frightened her. Because of this cowardice and disrespect she gave birth to the blind Dhritarashtra. Later her sister Ambalika mated with Vyasa, and knew to keep her eyes open. But she was pale with fear during the love making, and so gave birth to the albino Pandu. Finally the queens sent their maiden Parishrami in their place, who behaved appropriately during the love making and gave birth to the exceptional Vidura. But because his mother was a handmaiden rather than a queen, his status was always lower than his two half brothers. The queens were wives of king Vichitravirya – the grandfather to the Kauravas and Pandavas who eventually fought each other in the Battle of Kurukshetra, the climax of the Mahabharata on the threshold of which the Bhagavad Gita was given by Krishna to the Pandava prince Arjuna. King Vichitravirya was also the adopted father of Dhritarashtra and Pandu. After Krishna, Vidura was the most respected as an adviser by the Pandavas, whom he forewarned on various occasions of Duryodhana's plots to exterminate them, such as Duryodhana's plan to burn them alive in the house of wax.


title: Vidura

text: Vidura tried to stop Yudhishthira from playing the game of dice, but his efforts were of no use. Except the prince Vikarna, Vidura was the only one who protested against the humiliation of Draupadi in the Kaurava court. In that moment, Duryodhana viciously rebuked Vidura, calling him ungrateful. Dhritarashtra moved to rebuke Duryodhana for insulting their uncle, but, remembering Vidura saying that a blind man cannot be king, holds his tongue, and instead reprimanded Duryodhana for insulting the prime minister. It is that incident that Vidura brought up years later when he severed ties with the Kurus and sided with the Pandavas at the onset of the Kurukshetra war. Unlike Bhishma, Dronacharya, Kripacharya, and Karna, Vidura did not have an obligation to Hastinapura or Duryodhana, but to his family. Hearing Dhritarashtra not acknowledge that relationship, Vidura felt compelled to side with dharma and the Pandavas.


title: Vidura

text: According to Krishna, Vidura was considered as Dharmaraja, which means the king of righteousness. Krishna respected Vidura for his devotion to people's welfare and his proficiency in every sphere of knowledge. When Krishna visited Hastinapura as a peace emissary of the Pandavas, he shunned Duryodhana's offer to stay in the royal palace, preferring instead the home of Vidura, on account of him being the only neutral man in the Kaurava court. The reason Krishna stayed in Vidura's chambers for the night instead of Duryodhana's is due to the thoughts which were running through their heads and the difference between them. Duryodhana's intention was to heave luxury upon Krishna and convince him to join the Kaurava side. Sensing this intention, Krishna refused. Krishna knew the food that Vidura and his wife presented was presented with love and affection with no ulterior motive.


title: Vidura

text: In the "Sanatsujatiya" section of the "Mahabharata", shortly before the Kurukshetra War began, Vidura invoked the sage Sanatsujata to answer Dhritarashtra's questions about death.


title: Vidura

text: During Krishna's visit, Vidura repeatedly advised everyone in the Court to pay heed to the messenger. Continuously irritated, Duryodhana bursts out, blaming the low-born mother of Vidura as the cause for him betraying the Kauravas who have been feeding him. In protest against verbal assault, Vidura resigned on the spot from the post of Prime minister and broke his bow, vowing not to take part in the Kurukshetra War. Lesser known versions of Mahabharatha praise Vidura as an archer so great that if he had participated on the side of Kauravas in the war, the Pandavas would have been crushed. Vidura's bow was crafted by Vishnu himself, and it was destroyed at behest of Vishnu's visit.


title: Vidura

text: After the Kurukshetra War, Yudhishthira became the emperor and upon his request, Vidura resumed his post as Prime minister. After many years, Vidura accompanied Dhritarashtra, Gandhari and Kunti who retired to the forests to live a simple life. Sanjaya also accompanied them. When Yudhishthira went to forest after two years to visit them, he found Vidura's body to be lifeless. When he went near to the body, Vidura's spirit entered Yudhishthira's body and Yudhishthira realised that he and Vidura belonged to same entity, Yama. Yudhishthira left Vidura's body in the wood as a heavenly voice told Yudhishthira not to cremate Vidura's body.


title: Vidura

text: In Chapters 33 through 40 of Udyoga Parva in the Mahabharata, Vidura outlines things wise people and leaders should do, and things they should not. Collectively, these are known as "Vidura Niti" (Vidura's Statecraft). Some examples of his recommendations for leaders:


title: Vidura

text: Vidura Niti also includes a few hundred verses with suggestions for personal development and the characteristics of a wise person. For example, in Chapter 33, Vidura suggests a wise person refrains from anger, exultation, pride, shame, stupefaction and vanity. He has reverence and faith, he is unhampered in his endeavors by either adversity or prosperity. He believes virtue and profit can go together, exerts and acts to the best of his ability, disregards nothing. He understands quickly, listens carefully, acts with purpose. He does not grieve for what is lost, and does not lose his sense during crisis. He is constantly learning, he seeks enlightenment from everything he experiences. He acts after deciding, and decides after thinking. He neither behaves with arrogance, nor with excessive humility. He never speaks ill of others, nor praises himself. He does not exult in honours to himself, nor grieves at insults; he is not agitated by what others do to him just like a calm lake near river Ganges.


title: Vidura

text: Vidura is considered as the "Mahachohan" in the "Theosophical world". Mahachohan is said to be the chief of a Social Hierarchy of the trans-Himalayan mystics.


title: Vidura

text: Most characters in the Mahabharata were reincarnations of one God or the other. Vidura was the reincarnation of Dharmaraja, more popularly known as Yamadharmaraja, who was born as a maid's son due to the curse of sage Mandavya.When Vishnu decided to take birth as Krishna, other deities also incarnated along with him. This is seen both in the Mahabharata and in the Ramayana. For example, in the Ramayana, the sage Narada was born as Vibhishana.


title: Vidura

text: "Vidura Niti", or Vidura's Statecraft, narrated in the form of a dialogue between Vidura and King Dhritarashtra, is considered the precursor in some ways of Chanakya Neeti by Chanakya.


title: Vidura

text: Vidura is held to be a paragon of truth, dutifulness, impartial judgement and steadfast "dharma". He is considered the embodiment of the inner consciousness of the Mahabharata. The curse carried by Narada was also transferred to Vidura. The curse that though he being bestowed with ultimate knowledge and wisdom about the past, the present and the future, he would not be believed.


title: Vidura

text: Kaka Vidura, a Hindi minor poem by Rambhadracharya, has Vidura and his wife Sulabha as central characters.


title: A-A line

text: The Arkhangelsk–Astrakhan line, or A–A line for short, was the military goal of Operation Barbarossa. It is also known as the Volga–Arkhangelsk line, as well as (more rarely) the Volga–Arkhangelsk–Astrakhan line. It was first mentioned on 18 December 1940 in Führer Directive 21 () which enunciated the set goals and conditions of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, describing the attainment of the "general line Volga–Archangelsk" as its overall military objective.


title: A-A line

text: The line had its origins in an earlier military study carried out in the summer of 1940 by Erich Marcks called the "Operation Draft East". This report advocated the occupation of Russia up to the line "Arkhangelsk-Gorky-Rostov" in order to prevent it from being a threat to Germany in the future and "protect it against enemy bombers". Marcks envisioned that the campaign, including the capture of Moscow and beyond, would require between nine and seventeen weeks to complete.


title: A-A line

text: The hypothetical A-A line was to stretch from the port city of Arkhangelsk on the White Sea in northern Russia along the confluence of the Volga river to the port city of Astrakhan at the mouth of the Volga on the Caspian Sea. Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union failed to secure any of these objectives.


title: A-A line

text: The plan was for the Red Army to the west of the line to be defeated in a quick military campaign in 1941 before the onset of winter. The German Wehrmacht assumed that the majority of the Soviet military supplies and the main part of the food and population potential of the Soviet Union existed in the lands that lay to the west of the proposed A-A line. If the line were reached, the Soviet Union would also be deprived of around 86% of its petroleum assets (oil territories in the Caucasus).


title: A-A line

text: The A-A line as the end-goal of military hostilities was chosen because an occupation of the entire Soviet Union in a single military campaign was considered impossible in view of its geographic dimensions. The remaining Soviet industrial centers further eastward were planned to be destroyed by aerial bombardment, for which an entire "Luftflotte" ("air fleet"; equivalent in status to an army group) was to be assigned.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo, (born 28 May 1959) is a British author and academic. Her novel "Girl, Woman, Other", jointly won the Booker Prize in 2019 alongside Margaret Atwood's "The Testaments", making her the first woman with Black heritage to win the Booker.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and President of the Royal Society of Literature, the second woman and the first person with Black heritage to hold the role since it was founded in 1820.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo is a longstanding advocate for the inclusion of writers and artists of colour. She founded the Brunel International African Poetry Prize in 2012 and initiated The Complete Works poetry mentoring scheme in 2007. She co-founded Spread the Word writer development agency with Ruth Borthwick (1995–present) and Britain's first black women's theatre company (1982–1988), Theatre of Black Women. She organised Britain's first major black theatre conference, Future Histories, for the Black Theatre Forum, (1995) at the Royal Festival Hall, and Britain's first major conference on black British writing, "Tracing Paper" (1997) at the Museum of London.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo is a lifetime Honorary Fellow of St Anne's College, University of Oxford and International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2021 she succeeded Sir Richard Eyre as President of Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. She was Vice-Chair of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) and in 2020 she became a lifetime vice president, before becoming president (2022–2026). She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen's 2009 Birthday Honours, and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's 2020 Birthday Honours, both for services to literature.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo was born in Eltham, south-east London, and christened Bernardine Anne Mobolaji Evaristo. She was raised in Woolwich, the fourth of eight children born to an English mother, Jacqueline M. Brinkworth, of English, Irish and German heritage, who was a schoolteacher, and a Nigerian father, Julius Taiwo Bayomi Evaristo (1927–2001), known as Danny, born in British Cameroon, raised in Nigeria, who migrated to Britain in 1949 and became a welder and the first black councillor in the Borough of Greenwich, for the Labour Party. Her paternal grandfather, Gregorio Bankole Evaristo, was a Yoruba Aguda who sailed from Brazil to Nigeria. He was a customs officer (d. 1927). Her paternal grandmother, Zenobia Evaristo, née Sowemima (d. 1967), was from Abeokuta in Nigeria.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo was educated at Eltham Hill Grammar School for Girls from 1970 to 1977, and in 1972 she joined Greenwich Young People's Theatre (now Tramshed, in Woolwich), about which she has said: "I was twelve years old and it was the making of my childhood and led to a life-long career spent in the arts." She went on to attend Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, graduating in 1982,


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: In the 1980s, together with Paulette Randall and Patricia Hilaire, she founded Theatre of Black Women, the first theatre company in Britain of its kind. In the 1990s, she organised Britain's first black British writing conference, held at the Museum of London, and also Britain's first black British theatre conference, held at the Royal Festival Hall. In 1995 she co-founded and directed Spread the Word, London's writer development agency.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo continued further education at Goldsmiths College, University of London, receiving her doctorate in creative writing in 2013. In 2019, she was appointed Woolwich Laureate by the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival, reconnecting to and writing about the home town she left when she was 18.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo's first book to be published was a 1994 collection of poems called "Island of Abraham". She went on to become the author of two non-fiction books, and eight books of fiction and verse fiction that explore aspects of the African diaspora. She experiments with form and narrative perspective, often merging the past with the present, fiction with poetry, the factual with the speculative, and reality with alternate realities (as in her 2008 novel "Blonde Roots"). Her verse novel "The Emperor's Babe" (Penguin, 2001) is about a black teenage girl, whose parents are from Nubia, coming of age in Roman London nearly 2,000 years ago. It won an Arts Council Writers' Award 2000, a NESTA Fellowship Award in 2003, and went on to be chosen by "The Times" as one of the 100 Best Books of the Decade in 2010, and it was adapted into a BBC Radio 4 play in 2013. Evaristo's fourth book, "Soul Tourists" (Penguin, 2005), is an experimental novel about a mismatched couple driving across Europe to the Middle East, which featured ghosts of real figures of colour from European history.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Her novel "Blonde Roots" (Penguin, 2008) is a satire that inverts the history of the transatlantic slave trade and replaces it with a universe where Africans enslave Europeans. "Blonde Roots" won the Orange Youth Panel Award and Big Red Read Award, and was nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award and the Orange Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo's other books include the verse novel "Lara" (Bloodaxe Books, 2009, with an earlier version published in 1997), which fictionalised the multiple cultural strands of her family history going back over 150 years as well as her London childhood in a mixed-race family. This won the EMMA Best Novel Award in 1998. Her novella "Hello Mum" (Penguin, 2010) was chosen as "The Big Read" for the County of Suffolk, and adapted into a BBC Radio 4 play in 2012.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Her 2014 novel "Mr Loverman" (Penguin UK, 2013/ Akashic Books USA, 2014) is about a septuagenarian Caribbean Londoner, a closet homosexual considering his options after a 50-year marriage to his wife. It won the Publishing Triangle Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction (USA) and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. In 2015, she wrote and presented a two-part BBC Radio 4 documentary, "Fiery Inspiration" – about Amiri Baraka, on BBC Radio 4.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo's novel "Girl, Woman, Other" (May 2019, Hamish Hamilton/Penguin UK) is an innovative polyvocal "fusion fiction" about 12 primarily black British women. Their ages span 19 to 93 and they are a mix of cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations, classes and geographies, and the novel charts their hopes, struggles and intersecting lives. In July 2019, the novel was selected for the Booker Prize longlist, then made the shortlist, announced on 3 September 2019, alongside books by Margaret Atwood, Lucy Ellmann, Chigozie Obioma, Salman Rushdie and Elif Shafak. On 14 October, "Girl, Woman, Other" won the Booker Prize jointly with Atwood's "The Testaments". The win made Evaristo the first woman with Black heritage and first British with Black heritage author to win the prize. "Girl, Woman, Other" was one of Barack Obama's 19 Favourite Books of 2019 and Roxane Gay's Favourite Book of 2019. The novel was also shortlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: In 2020, Evaristo won the British Book Awards: Fiction Book of the Year and Author of the Year, the Indie Book Award for Fiction. In June 2020, Evaristo became the first woman with Black heritage and the first British writer with Black heritage to reach number one in the UK paperback fiction charts, where she held the top spot for five weeks and spent 44 weeks in the Top 10.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo was included on the Powerlist 2021, the 14th edition of the annual "Powerlist" recognising the United Kingdom's most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: In 2022, "Girl, Woman, Other" was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors chosen to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo's writing also includes short fiction, drama, poetry, essays, literary criticism, and projects for stage and radio. Two of her books, "The Emperor's Babe" (2001) and "Hello Mum" (2010), have been adapted into BBC Radio 4 dramas. Her ninth book, "Manifesto: On Never Giving Up", is published by Penguin UK (October 2021) and Grove Atlantic USA (2022). Her tenth book, "Feminism" (November 2021), is part of Tate Britain's "Look Again" series (Tate Publishing). She offers a personal survey of the representation of the art of British women of colour in the context of the gallery's forthcoming major rehang. In 2020 Evaristo collaborated with Valentino on their Collezione Milano collection, writing poetic text to accompany photographs of the collection by the photographer Liz Johnson Artur, published as a coffee-table book (Rizzoli, 2021).


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: "The Times", "Vanity Fair", "The Guardian", "The Observer", "The Independent", "Vogue", "Harper's Bazaar UK", "The Times Literary Supplement", "Conde Naste Traveller", "Wasafiri", and the "New Statesman". She is a contributor to "New Daughters of Africa: An international anthology of writing by women of African descent" (2019), edited by Margaret Busby.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo guest-edited "The Sunday Times" Style magazine (UK) in July 2020 with a black-woman/-xn takeover, featuring an array of young artists, activists and change-makers. A few years earlier, she was the guest editor of the September 2014 issue of "Mslexia" magazine, the Poetry Society of Great Britain's centenary winter issue of "Poetry Review" (2012), titled "Offending Frequencies"; a special issue of "Wasafiri" magazine called "Black Britain: Beyond Definition" (Routledge, 2010), with poet Karen McCarthy Woolf; "Ten", an anthology of Black and Asian poets, with poet Daljit Nagra (Bloodaxe Books, 2010) and in 2007, she co-edited the New Writing Anthology "NW15" (Granta/British Council). She was also editor of "FrontSeat" intercultural magazine in the 1990s, and one of the editors of "Black Women Talk Poetry" anthology (published in 1987 by the Black Womantalk Poetry collective of which Evaristo was part), Britain's first such substantial anthology, featuring among its 20 poets Jackie Kay, Dorothea Smartt and Adjoa Andoh.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: In October 2020, it was announced that she is curating a new book series with Hamish Hamilton at Penguin Random House publishers, "Black Britain: Writing Back", which involves bringing back into print and circulation books from the past. The first six books, novels, were published in February 2021, including "Minty Alley" (1936) by C. L. R. James and "The Dancing Face" (1997) by Mike Phillips.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo has been the subject of two major arts television documentary series: "The South Bank Show", with Melvyn Bragg (Sky Arts, Autumn 2020) and "Imagine", with Alan Yentob ("Bernardine Evaristo: Never Give Up", BBC One, September 2021). She has given many other interviews, including for "HARDtalk", with Stephen Shakur (BBC World, 2020) and "This Cultural Life", with John Wilson (BBC4, November 2021). She was also the subject of "Profile" (BBC Radio 4, 2019) and "Desert Island Discs" on BBC Radio 4, interviewed by Lauren Laverne, in 2020. In 2015, Evaristo wrote and presented a two-part BBC Radio 4 documentary called "Fiery Inspiration: Amiri Baraka and the Black Arts Movement".


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Her many podcast appearances in Britain include interviews conducted by Adwoa Aboah, Samira Ahmed, Elizabeth Day, Grace Dent, Annie MacManus, Graham Norton, James O'Brien, Natalie Portman, Jay Rayner, Simon Savidge, Pandora Sykes and Jeremy Vine.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: In the two months following her win of the Booker Prize, Evaristo has written, she received more invitations to give interviews than in the entirety of her career.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo has taught creative writing since 1994. She has also been awarded many writing fellowships and residencies including the Montgomery Fellowship at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire in 2015; for the British Council at Georgetown University, Washington DC; Barnard College/ Columbia University, New York; University of the Western Cape, South Africa; the Virginia Arts Festival (Virginia, USA), and Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia, UK. She taught the University of East Anglia-"Guardian" "How to Tell a Story" course for four seasons in London up to 2015. Evaristo is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London, having taught at the university since 2011.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Since 1997, she has accepted more than 130 international invitations as a writer. These involve writer-residencies and visiting fellowships, British Council tours, book tours, teaching creative writing courses and workshops as well as keynotes, talks and panels at many conferences and literary festivals. She chaired the 32nd and 33rd British Council Berlin Literature Seminar in 2017 and 2018. She delivered the "New Statesman"/Goldsmiths Prize lecture on 30 September 2020. In October 2020, she gave the opening keynote address at the Frankfurt Book Fair's Publishing Insights conference, in which she called on publishers to hire more people represent a wider range of communities: "We have to have people working in the industry from all these communities who are looking for something beyond the cliches and stereotypes."


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Aside from founding the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, she has judged many prizes. In 2012 she was chair of the jury for both the Caine Prize for African Writing and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. In 2021, she was Chair of the Women's Prize for Fiction panel of judges.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: In 2006, Evaristo initiated an Arts Council-funded report delivered by Spread the Word writer development agency into why black and Asian poets were not getting published in the UK, which revealed that less than 1 per cent of all published poetry is by poets of colour.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: When the report was published, she then initiated The Complete Works poetry mentoring scheme, with Nathalie Teitler and Spread the Word. In this national development programme, 30 poets were mentored, each over a one- or two-year period, and many went on to publish books, win awards and receive serious recognition for their poetry. (See The Complete Works alumnae list below.)


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: Evaristo has also served on councils and advisory committees for various organisations including the Council of the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) since 2017, the Arts Council of England, the London Arts Board, the British Council Literature Advisory Panel, the Society of Authors, the Poetry Society (Chair) and "Wasafiri" international literature magazine. Evaristo was elected as President of the Royal Society of Literature from the end of 2021 (following the retirement of her predecessor Dame Marina Warner), becoming the first writer of colour and only the second woman to hold the position in the Society's 200-year history, and she stated at the time of the announcement: "Literature is not a luxury, but essential to our civilisation. I am so proud, therefore, to be the figurehead of such an august and robust literature organisation that is so actively and urgently committed to being inclusive of the widest range of outstanding writers from every demographic and geographical location in Britain, and to reaching marginalised communities through literature projects, including introducing young people in schools to some of Britain's leading writers who visit, teach and discuss their work with them." As a Sky Arts Ambassador, Evaristo is spearheading the Sky Arts RSL Writers Awards, providing mentoring for under-represented writers.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: A portrait of Evaristo (2002) by photographer Sal Idriss is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.


title: Bernardine Evaristo

text: She is married to writer David Shannon, whom she met in 2006, and whose debut novel was launched in March 2021.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level, or A Level, is a main school leaving qualification in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is available as an alternative qualification in other countries.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Students generally study for A levels over a two-year period. For much of their history, A levels have been examined by "terminal" examinations taken at the end of these two years. A more modular approach to examination became common in many subjects starting in the late 1980s, and standard for September 2000 and later cohorts, with students taking their subjects to the half-credit "AS" level after one year and proceeding to full A level the next year (sometimes in fewer subjects). In 2015, Ofqual decided to change back to a terminal approach where students sit all examinations at the end of the second year. AS is still offered, but as a separate qualification; AS grades no longer count towards a subsequent A level.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Most students study two or three A level subjects simultaneously during the two post-16 years (ages 16–18) in a secondary school, in a sixth form college, in a further and higher education college, or in a tertiary college, as part of their further education.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A Levels are recognised by many universities as the standard for assessing the suitability of applicants for admission in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and many such universities partly base their admissions offers on a student's predicted A level grades, with the majority of these offers conditional on achieving a minimum set of final grades.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A Levels were introduced in 1951 as a standardised school-leaving qualification, replacing the Higher School Certificate. The examinations were taken on a subject-by-subject basis, the subjects being chosen according to the strengths and interests of the student. This encouraged specialization and in-depth study of three to four subjects. At first, A Levels were graded as simply distinction, pass or fail (although students were given an indication of their marks, to the nearest 5%). Candidates obtaining a distinction originally had the option to sit a Scholarship Level paper on the same material, to attempt to win one of 400 national scholarships. The Scholarship Level was renamed the S-Level in 1963.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Quite soon, rising numbers of students taking the A-level examinations required more differentiation of achievement below the S-Level standard. Grades were therefore introduced, with recommendations by the Secondary School Examinations Council (SSEC) of approximate proportions of pupils for each grade.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The O grade was equivalent to a GCE Ordinary Level pass which indicated a performance equivalent to the lowest pass grade at Ordinary Level.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Over time, the validity of this system was questioned because, rather than reflecting a standard, norm referencing simply maintained a specific proportion of candidates at each grade, which in small cohorts was subject to statistical fluctuations in standards. In 1984, the government's Secondary Examinations Council decided to replace the norm referencing with criterion referencing: grades would in future be awarded on examiner judgement thus eliminating a possible inadequacy of the existing scheme.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The criterion referencing scheme came into effect for the summer 1987 exams as the system set examiners specific criteria for the awarding of B and E grades to candidates, and then divided out the other grades according to fixed percentages. Rather than awarding an Ordinary Level for the lowest pass, a new "N" (for Nearly passed) was introduced. Criticisms of A level grading continued, and when Curriculum 2000 was introduced, the decision was made to have specific criteria for each grade, and the 'N' grade was abolished.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: In 1989, Advanced Supplementary (AS) awards were introduced; they were intended to broaden the subjects a pupil studied post 16, and were to complement rather than be part of a pupil's A-level studies. AS-Levels were generally taken over two years, and in a subject the pupil was not studying at A-Level. Each AS level contained half the content of an A-Level, and at the same level of difficulty.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Initially, a student might study three subjects at A-Level and one at AS-Level, or often even four subjects at A-Level. However, due to decreasing public spending on education over time, a growing number of schools and sixth form colleges would now arrange for their pupils to study for three A-Levels instead of four.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A levels evolved gradually from a two-year linear course with an exam at the end, to a modular course, between the late 1980s and 2000. By the year 2000 there was a strong educational reason to standardise the exam and offer greater breadth to students through modules and there was also a pragmatic case based on the inefficiency of linear courses where up to 30% of students were failing to complete or pass.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Curriculum 2000 was introduced in September 2000, with the first new examinations taken in January and June of the following year. The Curriculum 2000 reforms also replaced the S-Level extension paper with the Advanced Extension Award.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The Conservative Party under Prime Minister David Cameron initiated reforms for A Levels to change from modular to the current linear structure. British Examination Boards (Edexcel, AQA and OCR) regulated and accredited by the government of the United Kingdom responded to the government's reform announcements by modifying specifications of several A Level subjects.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: On 18 March 2020, A-level examinations were cancelled in order to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in the 2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic. The A-level and AS-level qualifications would instead be awarded based upon a mix of teacher assessment and informal "mock" exams taken earlier in the school year. This led to a grading controversy.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: On 6 January 2021, Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson confirmed that the 2020/21 series of A-levels would also be cancelled, pending further arrangements by Ofqual and the Department for Education.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Prior to the 2015 government reforms of the A Level system, A-levels had (since the Curriculum 2000 reforms) consisted of two equally weighted parts: AS (Advanced Subsidiary) Level, usually assessed in the first year of study, and "A2 Level", usually assessed in the second year of study. It was also possible to take both AS Levels and A2 Levels for a subject in the same examination session - this was most common with Mathematics and Further Mathematics, where a student may have completed the entire Mathematics A-Level in their first year of study, followed by the entire Further Mathematics A-Level in their second. It was typical for an AS course to compromise two or three modules, with the A2 half of the course comprising two or three modules, for a total of four or six modules. The modules within each part may have been equally weighted, or be of varying weights. Modules were either assessed by externally marked papers, or by school-assessed, externally moderated coursework.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Following the reforms, A-Levels and AS-Levels have been decoupled, with AS-Level results no longer counting towards the A-Level qualification. The AS-Level consists of the first half of the A-Level course, and can be taught alongside the first year of the full A-Level course. Grades are determined by adding up the mark for each component (which is sometimes weighted) and applying a grade boundary.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A wide variety of subjects are offered at A-level by the five exam boards. Although exam boards often alter their curricula, this table shows the majority of subjects which are consistently available for study. See a list of, click on the "show" below, Advanced Level Subjects (usually referred to as A-Level):


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The number of A-level exams taken by students can vary. A typical route is to study four subjects at AS level and then drop down to three at A2 level, although some students continue with their fourth subject. Three is usually the minimum number of A Levels required for university entrance, with some universities specifying the need for a fourth AS subject. There is no limit set on the number of A Levels one can study, and a number of students take five or more A Levels. It is permissible to take A Levels in languages one already speaks fluently, or courses with overlapping content, even if not always fully recognized by universities. There are many options that are in place for students to choose to do coursework.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The pass grades for A Levels are, from highest to lowest, A*, A, B, C, D and E. Those who do not reach the minimum standard required for a grade E receive the non-grade U (unclassified), and those who fail to complete any of the subject's components will receive an X. There is no A* grade at AS level.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The process to decide these grades for modular A Levels involves the uniform mark scheme (UMS). Under this scheme, four-module A levels have a maximum mark of 400 UMS (or 200 UMS each for AS and A2), and six-module A levels have a maximum mark of 600 (or 300 UMS each for AS and A2). The maximum UMS within AS and A2 may be split unequally between each modules. For example, a Physics AS may have two exam modules worth 90 UMS and 150 UMS, and a coursework module worth 60 UMS. The 'raw marks' i.e. actual score received on a test may differ from UMS awarded. On each assignment, the correspondence of raw marks to UMS is decided by setting grade boundaries, a process which involves consultation by subject experts and consideration of statistics, aiming to keep standards for each grade the same year on year. Achieving less than 40% results in a U (unclassified). For passing grades, 40% corresponds to an E grade, 50% a D, 60% a C, 70% a B, and 80% an A. The A* grade was introduced in 2010 and is awarded to candidates who average 80% UMS across all modules, with a score over 90% UMS in all A2 modules. In Mathematics, which comprises six 100 UMS modules, only the C3 and C4 modules count towards this requirement. In Further Mathematics and Additional Further Mathematics, where more than three A2 modules can be taken, the three best-scoring A2 modules count.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Recent research and the corresponding findings have shown that over a time span of several years students from Northern Ireland outperformed students from England and Wales in A-level examinations.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: According to UCAS and HKEAA, the Hong Kong A-level examination has historically been benchmarked against the UK A Levels. In general, a UK A grade is broadly equivalent to a Hong Kong A-C grade. This conclusion is based mainly on the percentage of pupils achieving the respective grades in respective exams. In the UK, on average 25% of participants of each subject achieved an A grade every year, compared to the 25% A-C rate in Hong Kong – A(4%), A-B (10%), A-C (25%). According to the BBC, the percentage of students achieving an A* is about 8–10%, which essentially lies within the A-B range of their Hong Kong counterparts in respective subjects.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: In the United States of America the high school diploma is the qualification generally required for entry into colleges and universities. Students are usually evaluated and granted admission to US higher education institutions based on a combination of school marks, via a transcript from their high school, and a college entrance exam, most commonly the SAT or ACT.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: In the United Kingdom, the high school diploma is considered to be at the level of the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), which is awarded at Year 11. For college and university admissions, the high school diploma may be accepted in lieu of the GCSE if an average grade of C is obtained in subjects with a GCSE counterpart.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: As the more academically rigorous A Levels awarded at Year 13 are expected for university admission, the high school diploma alone is generally not considered to meet university requirements. Students who wish to study in the United Kingdom may additionally participate in the Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) programs, which are considered to be at the level of the A Level qualifications and earn points on the UCAS Tariff, or may opt to take A Level examinations in British international schools or as private candidates. College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) tests, such as the SAT, SAT Subject Tests, or the ACT, may also be considered.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) recommends that in addition to a high school diploma, grades of 3 or above in at least two, or ideally three, Advanced Placement exams may be considered as meeting general entry requirements for admission. The IB Diploma may also be accepted. For the College Entrance Examination Board tests, a minimum score of 600 or higher in all sections of the SAT or a minimum score of 26 or higher in all sections of the ACT along with a minimum score of 600 in relevant SAT Subject Tests may be considered as meeting general entry requirements for admission.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The Equality Act says that exam boards are required to take ‘such steps as it is reasonable to have to take to avoid the disadvantage’, meaning that they are required to make reasonable adjustments for students who would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage when demonstrating their skills,


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: knowledge and understanding in an assessment. For students taking GCE A Level examinations with learning difficulties, an injury/repetitive strain injury (RSI) or other disabilities, some of the access arrangements offered are:


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Access arrangements must be approved by the exam board concerned. There are others available, but these are the most commonly used.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A-level examinations in the UK are currently administered through 5 examination boards: AQA, OCR, Edexcel (London Examinations), Eduqas and CCEA. The present 5 can trace their roots via a series of mergers or acquisitions to one or more of the originally 9 GCE Examination boards. Additionally, there are four examination boards offering A level qualifications internationally: OxfordAQA, Edexcel, Learning Resource Network (LRN) and the CIE. OCR and CIE are both branches of the parent organization, Cambridge Assessment. OxfordAQA is a partnership between AQA and Oxford University Press. In the UK it is customary for schools to register with multiple examination boards and to "mix and match" A Levels to get a combined curriculum that fits the school profile.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The exam boards finance themselves through the fees charged to the schools for administering the examination. In addition to the centre registration fee, A level Mathematics will raise £120.00 per student, while Biology, Physics and Chemistry £90.00 per subject and languages such as Spanish, French and German £100.00 or £201.15 depending on the syllabus. (2019-20 AQA figures)


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A Levels are usually studied by students in Sixth Form, which refers to the last two years of secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, taken at ages 16–18. Some secondary schools have their own Sixth Form, which admits students from lower year groups, but will often accept external applications. There are also many specialist Sixth Form and Further Education Colleges which admit from feeder schools across a large geographic area. Admission to A level programmes is at the discretion of providers, and usually depends on GCSE grades. A typical requirement would be 5 A*-C grades at GCSE, although requirements can be higher, particularly for independent schools and grammar schools.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A Levels are offered as an alternate qualification by a small number of educational institutions in Scotland, in place of the standard Scottish Higher, and the Advanced Higher levels of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate. The schools that offer A Levels are mainly private fee-paying schools particularly for students wishing to attend university in England.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Many international schools choose to use the British system for their wide recognition. Furthermore, students may choose to sit the papers of British examination bodies at education centres around the world, such as those belonging to the British Council. According to the British Council, A Levels are similar to the American Advanced Placement courses which are themselves equivalent to first-year courses of America's four-year bachelor's degrees.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A Level students often apply to universities before they have taken their final exams, with applications administered centrally through UCAS. British universities (including Scottish universities, which receive many applicants taking A Levels) consider GCSEs, AS-level results, predicted A Level results, and extracurricular accomplishments when deciding whether applicants should be made an offer through UCAS. These offers may be 'unconditional', guaranteeing a place regardless of performance in A2 examinations. Far more often, the offers are conditional on A level grades, and become void should the student fail to achieve the marks expected by the university (for example, conditional offer of three A Levels at grades B-B-C). Universities may specify which subjects they wish these grades to be in (for example, conditional offer of grades A-A-B with a grade A in Mathematics). The offer may include additional requirements, such as attaining a particular grade in the Sixth Term Examination Paper. The university is obliged to accept the candidate if the conditions are met, but is not obliged to reject a candidate who misses the requirements. Leniency may in particular be shown if the candidate narrowly misses grades.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A Level grades are also sometimes converted into numerical scores, typically UCAS tariff scores. Under the new UCAS system starting in 2017, an A* grade at A Level is worth 56 points, while an A is worth 48, a B is worth 40, a C is worth 32, a D is 24, and a E is worth 16; so a university may instead demand that an applicant achieve 112 points, instead of the equivalent offer of B-B-C. This allows greater flexibility to students, as 112 points could also, for example, be achieved through the combination A-B-D, which would not have met the requirements of a B-B-C offer because of the D grade.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Depending on the specific offer made, a combination of more than 3 subjects (typically 4 or 5) with lower grades, or points from non-academic input such as higher level music grades or a Key Skills course, may also be accepted by the university. The text of the offer determines whether this flexibility is available – "112 UCAS Points" likely would, while "112 UCAS Points from three A Level subjects" would not.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: There are currently three examination boards which provide an international variant of the United Kingdom A level examinations to international students. These are Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), Edexcel and OxfordAQA.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The most common criticism of the A-level system is an accusation of grade inflation. The press have noted the steady rise in average grades for several consecutive years and drawn the conclusion that A-levels are becoming consistently easier. A 2007 report by Robert Coe compared students' scores in the ALIS ability test with equivalent grades achieved in A level exams over a period of approximately 20 years; he found that students of similar ability were achieving on average about 2 grades lower in the past. In the case of maths it was nearer to 3.5 grades lower.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The government and teaching bodies maintain that the improved grades represent higher levels of achievement due to improved and more experienced teaching methods, but some educationalists and journalists argue that the change is due to grade inflation and the examinations getting easier. It has also been suggested that government pressure on schools to achieve high examination results has led them to coach students to pass the examination rather than understand the subject. In 2000, the A-level system was changed to examine students at the end of each of the two years of A-level study, rather than only at the end of the two years. The results of the first year (AS-level) examinations allowed students to drop subjects they find difficult after one year and to retake examinations to achieve a higher grade. The availability of unlimited resits, with the best mark going through, has improved results. Some believe that students are tending to select easier subjects in order to achieve higher grades.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Universities in Britain have complained that the increasing number of A grades awarded makes it hard to distinguish between students at the upper end of the ability spectrum. The C grade was originally intended to represent the average ability, and students typically required 60% or higher across all assessments to attain it; however, the average result is now at the upper end of the B grade. Many universities have introduced their own entrance tests such as the BMAT and LNAT for specific courses, or conduct interviews to select applicants. In 2005, the head of admissions at the University of Cambridge outlined changes he believed should be made to the current system, particularly the use of the Advanced Extension Awards, a more challenging qualification based on the more advanced content of the A-level syllabus. More universities have wanted to see applicants' individual module results to see how comfortably they have achieved their result due to fears that the A-level might not offer an accurate test of ability, or that it is a good prediction of future academic success.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: In 2002, allegations that students had been given lower marks than they deserved in order to fix overall results and make the pass rate seem lower than it had been in previous years were raised. The Tomlinson Inquiry was set up to ascertain whether this was an underhand way to disprove that A levels were becoming too easy. As a result, some papers were re-marked but only 1,220 A level and 733 AS-level students saw an improvement to their results.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: To replace the cancelled summer 2020 examination series (owing to concerns over the spread of COVID-19), grades were awarded using "centre-assessed grades" and rankings. These were initially moderated by Ofqual but, owing to numerous problems, candidates' final grades reverted to those supplied by centres. This resulted in significant grade inflation, with initial calculations showing around 37.7% of candidates gaining a grade A or A*, compared with 25.2% in 2019.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: In response to concerns shown by employers and universities that it was not possible to distinguish exceptional candidates among the large number of students achieving A grades, and in order to mirror GCSE standards, a higher "super A" grade (like the A* grade at GCSE) was proposed in 2004. It was generally agreed that bringing in higher grades would be a better idea than raising the grade boundaries to keep the standards consistent, and it was proposed that on top of the A, an A* grade should be available at A level in order to stretch the most able students while ensuring others are not disadvantaged. For modular A2 exams sat from 2010 onwards, the highest A level grade is A*, requiring an A grade overall and 90% overall average UMS in A2 papers.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The 2004 reform of the Mathematics syllabus, following calls that it was too hard, attracted criticism. In the change, content consisting of three modules (Pure 1–3) was spread to four modules (Core 1–4). It was alleged that this made the course easier as students did less work for the same qualifications. Further reforms in 2006 to make the Mathematics syllabus more popular were met with mixed opinions. Supporters cited it would reverse the downward trend in students taking the subject whilst others were concerned that the subject was "still incredibly difficult".


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Despite ongoing work to improve the image of A-levels in the business community, a number of business leaders expressed concern about the suitability of the qualification for school leavers and to urge the adoption of the International Baccalaureate in the UK as an alternative qualification at schools. Examples of concerns were those raised in 2009 by Sir Mike Rake, Chairman of BT Group, Sir Terry Leahy, Chairman of Tesco and by Sir Christopher Gent, Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline. Some schools have also moved to offering the Cambridge Pre-U as an alternative to A-levels and with higher tariffs.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: With increased modularisation of subjects, the amount of time that young adults are spending being examined in the UK has risen considerably. It was estimated in a report by educationalists that by the age of 19 children will have spent an entire year of their school education being assessed. As a result of such criticisms about the "burden of assessment", since candidates have taken four papers for most A-levels, instead of six as in the past. This means that there are two modules for AS and two more for A2 for the majority of A levels. However, this will not be the case for all A levels: Biology, Human Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Electronics, Geology, Music, Welsh and Science will continue with six units, three units for AS and A2 respectively, and 600 UMS for the A level. Mathematics (including Further Mathematics, Additional Further Mathematics, Statistics, and the Use of Mathematics AS), will not change structurally in the modular reform; it will stay on 600 UMS (300 UMS for AS), but it will include the new A* grade and the 'Stretch and Challenge' provision. Also, Bengali, Modern Hebrew, Punjabi, Polish, Arabic, Japanese, Modern Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Dutch, Gujarati, Persian, Portuguese, and Turkish will remain at two units, one for AS and one for A2. However, they will move to 200 UMS for A level. Chinese will also move to 200 UMS, but instead of two units, it will move to three units: AS will have two units, A2 will have one. It is the first A level to have an odd number of units since Curriculum 2000.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Cambridge University has warned that it is extremely unlikely that it will accept applicants who are taking two or more supposedly 'softer' A level subjects out of 3. It has outlined a list of subjects it considers to be 'unsuitable', which includes Accounting, Design and Technology, Film Studies, Information and Communication Technology, Media Studies, Photography, and Sports studies.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: As a result of dislike of the modular system, many schools now offer the alternative International Baccalaureate Diploma qualification. The course offers more subjects, extracurricular activity, a philosophical epistemological component known as "Theory of Knowledge", as well as the requirement of an extended essay on any subject of a candidate's choice. Unlike the current AS/A2 system, the International Baccalaureate is not based on a modular system. The Diploma Programme, administered by the International Baccalaureate, is a recognised pre-university educational programme.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair suggested in 2013 that one state school in every county should offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme as an alternative to A levels.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: The A-level has been criticised for providing less breadth since many A-level students do not generally study more than three subjects in their final year. A major part of this criticism is that, while a three- or four-subject curriculum can be balanced across the spectrum—for example, students may choose one science subject (e.g. Maths, Chemistry, or Biology), a language subject (e.g. English Language, English Literature, French, German, Spanish), and a "creative" subject (e.g. Art Studies)—in many cases students choose three closely linked subjects—for example, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry or Sociology, Psychology, and Politics. This is in part due to university entrance requirements, which, for degree programs such as medicine, may require three related A-level subjects, but non-traditional combinations are becoming more common ("British Council Australia Education UK"). Thus, while the purpose of Curriculum 2000 was to encourage students to undertake contrasting subjects, to broaden their 'skill-base', there is a tendency to pursue similar disciplines. However, others disagree, arguing that the additional AS-level(s) studied would already have provided more breadth compared with the old system.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: Students applying to universities before receiving their A Level results typically do so on the basis of predicted grades, which are issued by schools and colleges. A student's predicted grades usually depend on their GCSE results, performance throughout the course, performance in tests and mock examinations, or a combination of these factors.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: A possible reformation would be something called the post-qualifications applications system (PQA), where applicants apply to university after they receive their results. It has been argued that this would be fairer to applicants, especially those from lower-income families whose results were thought to be under-predicted. However, a more recent UCAS report shows that although the reliability of predicted grades declines in step with family income, this can still lead to an over-prediction effect for lower income groups. Just 45% of predicted grades are accurate – 47% are over-predictions and 9% under-predictions. A recent UCAS consultation rejected the implementation of PQA following opposition from universities, schools and awarding bodies.


title: GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

text: In 2020 the A level system was challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ofqual advised that the 2020 A level exams should be cancelled, students be given a completion certificate, and universities widen the intake relying on a higher drop-out. The government intervened and grades were to be awarded using an algorithm. There was a public outcry, explained Roger Taylor the former chair of Ofqual who resigned. It was a “colossal error of judgment” : awarding grades calculated by algorithm was not acceptable to the public. Instead the final grades were awarded by teacher assessment, a system that was repeated in 2021. Taylor explained the algorithm was robust, it was the way it was being used that caused the problem: that was down to human decisions. LSE and UCL researchers showed that teacher assessment gave a 15% advantage to students with graduate parents.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Infamous First Light is an action-adventure video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 4. The game was announced at the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo and was released digitally in August 2014, with a physical release of the game only being released in Europe, Asia and Australia in September 2014. The game is a standalone companion to "Infamous Second Son" and serves as a prequel.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Played in a third-person perspective, the player takes control of Abigail "Fetch" Walker (introduced as a supporting character in "Infamous Second Son"), a young woman classed by the Department of Unified Protection as a "conduit" who possesses superhuman powers. In custody of the D.U.P., Fetch is ordered to tell the story of the events leading up to her capture. The player can use their Neon powers to defeat enemies and traverse the environment while completing the game's levels. The game primarily takes place in the streets of a fictionalized version of Seattle and in and around the prison, Curdun Cay.


title: Infamous First Light

text: "Infamous First Light" received mostly positive reviews from critics, praising the protagonist Fetch, with some commenting that she was a better character compared to "Second Son" protagonist Delsin, alongside the visuals, controls, gameplay, and challenge arenas. Criticism was aimed towards the game's story and combat mechanics.


title: Infamous First Light

text: "Infamous First Light" is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective, similar to "Infamous Second Son"; players complete levels, defeat enemies and finish side missions. The player takes control of Abigail "Fetch" Walker , a young "conduit" who possesses superhero-like 'Neon' powers. With a few exceptions, Abigail's powers play identically to Delsin Rowe's Neon powers, but "First Light" introduces several new features. In Neon races, Fetch can chase down floating balls of Neon gas and Conduit energy called "Lumens" that reward her with skill points to increase her powers. The graffiti mini game from "Second Son" is present; it has been aesthetically altered to match Fetch's Neon style. In Arena Challenges, both Fetch and Delsin can fight against hordes of holographic enemies. Completing challenges rewards the player with skill points that they can use to upgrade their abilities. Exclusive to the arena is a new enemy faction: Demons, with their own unique powers and abilities.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Abigail "Fetch" Walker, a young conduit in the D.U.P.'s custody in their prison Curdun Cay, is ordered to give a demonstration of her powers to one Brooke Augustine by battling holographic foes created by fellow Conduit Eugene. Once that is done, Abigail is told to tell the events that led up to her arrest.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Seven years earlier, Abigail was one of the first of the new Conduits who emerge following the Beast's rampage across the countryside. Although her parents tried to cope at first, they were left with few options after Abigail injured one of her classmates by mistake. Abigail's older brother, Brent Walker, immediately grabbed Abigail and ran away with her; the pair turned to drug use to cope but Brent eventually got clean, even going as far as to hide Abigail's stash to help her get clean as well. Brent also made Abigail keep the use of her powers to a minimum to avoid suspicion. For years Brent worked for gangs to acquire enough funds to buy a boat and sneak across the border from Seattle to Canada where the D.U.P.'s authority does not extend. Unfortunately, a gang of Russian mobsters known as the Akurans destroyed the boat, took Brent hostage, and nearly killed Abigail with a bomb.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Using her powers, Abigail survives and begins looking for Brent. Abigail soon meets Shane, one of Brent's old contacts and a small-time drug lord also looking for Brent. Shane takes advantage of Abigail's naivety to use her to win a gang war with the Akurans almost single-handedly. When they find Brent, Shane takes him hostage and forces Abigail to help him cement his hold on Seattle's drug trade. Back in the present, Augustine theorizes that the new powers Abigail develops may be a reaction to extreme trauma to help her cope. On the condition that she show her all of her powers, Augustine allows Abigail to fight holograms of her D.U.P. troops. Once the task is completed, Abigail continues her story.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Another employee of Shane's working for the city's tech support department, named Jenny, offers to help look for Brent. Jenny has narrowed down where Shane is keeping Brent to four shipping crates dotted around the city. Finding the crates not only does Abigail discover that Brent is not in any of them but Shane, already on to them, hunts down and kills Jennifer. Shane has Abigail help him force the police's favor by having Abigail slaughter the police force while he has a sit-down with the chief. The chief agrees to Shane's terms, on the condition that Abigail leaves Seattle and does not come back.


title: Infamous First Light

text: With this, Shane sends Abigail to pick up her brother. Unfortunately it turns out to be a trap where Shane attempts to kill Abigail with a homemade gas chamber; Abigail however is able to pull through and escape. Back in the present, realizing that Abigail is still holding out on her, Augustine decides to send her to another new arena. Taking inspiration from Eugene's love of the "Heaven's Hellfire" game, Augustine has Abigail fight her literal Demons. Once the third arena is completed, Augustine has Abigail finish the story. The still alive Abigail "negotiates" a new deal with Shane, he hands over Brent, alive and intact, and she stops tearing apart his gang and operation. Shane has Abigail meet him at the Crocodile where he sticks her with a drug filled needle. In the resulting drugged haze, Abigail accidentally kills Brent, leaving her emotionally distraught and defenseless as the D.U.P. closes in on her.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Back in the present, Augustine reveals that she had known Abigail's story all along, and reveals that she has Shane in custody, while offering Abigail the chance to kill him. Accepting Augustine's offer, Abigail attacks Shane, destroying part of the prison wall in the process. Shane survives and escapes by hijacking an APC, with the D.U.P. and a freed Abigail in hot pursuit. With the D.U.P.'s unwilling assistance, Abigail catches up to Shane and violently kills him, avenging her brother. Augustine, after hearing that Shane had been executed, states that Abigail is 'ready'.


title: Infamous First Light

text: Alongside Eugene and another Conduit named Hank Daughtry, Abigail is released into the military's custody. During the drive, Hank reveals he has smuggled in a bent paper clip to use it to pick their restraints, hijacking the truck, and crashes it at Salmon Bay. Abigail and Eugene escapes, while Hank is left behind as Delsin Rowe approaches him, leading to the events of "Second Son".