Reviews for Pension Sharing in Practice: A Family Law Special Bulletin

The average rating for Pension Sharing in Practice: A Family Law Special Bulletin based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-02 00:00:00 Jason Marsiglia Do you remember that nursery rhyme that goes; “Ringer ringer roses, a pocket full of pennies, ah teash you – ah teash you, we all fall down”…? Those were not the right words (I always suspected that, even as a kid) the correct words to the rhyme are; Ring around the rosia Pocket full of Posies Ashes, Ashes, We all fall down. It was a rhyme to commemorate or acknowledge the gravity of the ‘black death’, that virulent strain of bubonic plague that wiped out half of Europe’s population in the middle ages. I can bet that even our teachers who taught it to us didn’t know this. This next detail got me all wide eyed in shock, did you know that Julius Caesar wasn’t stabbed in the back by Brutus? Neither did Caesar turn around, look Brutus in the face and ask him the now famous question ‘e tu brutus?’ This very popular depiction of the roman emperor’s death was Shakespeare’s adaptation to make his tale palatable. Actually, what happened was, upon seeing his friend Brutus approaching with a drawn dagger, Caesar covered his face with his cloak (so as not to see such evil), Brutus now at striking range and standing in front of Caesar (not behind), stabbed him in the groin. These and many more historical revelations you will discover when you read this weeks recommended book. Title: ASPECTS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: Problems and Sources in History (Volume 1) 2nd Edition Author: Perry M. Rogers Place of Publication: United States of America Publisher: Prentice Hall Date of Publication: 1992 Number of Pages: 443 ISBN: 0-13-050758-X INTRODUCTION The writing style of ASPECTS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION is formal, it is academic and is advised to be used as a teaching aid for the students of history, humanities and social sciences. The author or ‘Editor’ as Perry Rogers is referred to on the cover, advises that an 8-10 page paper should be submitted by the student after every chapter. My advice to you is…. Skip that bit, you don’t want to acquire a degree from reading the book do you? LOL. The book uses primary sources to analyse the past in other to better understand it and to enable us prepare for a brighter future. The text is broad in nature as it covers political, social, economic, environmental, religious, intellectual and scientific issues. It is organised around 7 major themes, namely; Imperialism, Church/State relationship, Systems of Government, Revolution, Propaganda, Women in history, and historical change and transition. CHAPTER ONE traces the source of western civilisations religious beliefs to the far and near east and focuses on Mesopotamia, Egypt and Israel as sources for organised religion, amongst other things. CHAPTER TWO traces the origins of democracy to the Greek polis/cities and focuses on the two dominant Greek states, Athens and Sparta. All the ancient wars you watched in films like 300 and Troy are ‘truthfully told,’ you will be shocked at some actual outcomes. CHAPTER THREE dwells on the Peloponnesian wars between the Greek states and how it weakened them which gave rise to the emergence of outsiders from Macedonia. Philip the king and his son Alexander the great are the leadership focus of this chapter. Of course it talks of Alexander’s world conquest. CHAPTER FOUR looks at the birth and rise of Rome, its senators, generals, philosophers to the time of Julius Caesar and Octavian. CHAPTER FIVE, titled Christ and Caesar examines the relationship between the early Church and the roman empire, the persecution of the Christians, the edict of toleration (of Christians), the conversion of emperor Constantine at the battle of Milvian Bridge and the Theodosian code which leads to prohibition of paganism and Christianity being made the official religion of Rome. CHAPTER SIX is titled pax romana or the roman peace and it talks about the years which Rome fought minimal external wars as it had total dominion of the world. It concludes with the decline of Rome as barbarians assailed it on all sides. CHAPTER SEVEN titled medieval world, questions what we have popularly termed ‘dark ages.’ It introduces the kingdom of Constantinople under King Justinian as it re conquers North Africa and Italy and the building of the Hagia Sophia. Life of Mohammed and the spread of Islam. Monastic order is introduced by St Benedict and St Francis of Assisi founds the Franciscan order, Charlemagne rules over the Franks, King John of England is compelled to sign the Magana Carta by his nobles, philosophers like St Thomas Aquinas worked in this age, Gothic architecture was introduced and universities were established in oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Bologna and Salamanca. How could this age be dark? CHAPTER EIGHT deals with the Crusades, and its rallying call, It is the will of God. It focuses on two out of four of them. I didn’t know there were 2 crusades talk less of 4! It states that the only successful one was the first one because it was borne out of genuine faith, the rest were borne out of greed and avarice. CHAPTER NINE dwells on the horrors of the black death, so named because it was first noticed in sailors on board ships coming from the black sea and also because the final symptoms to show on victims before they died were blackish spots on their skins. Between one third to one half of Europe’s populace died from this disease in hose days. CHAPTER TEN deals with the renaissance movement, Dante, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Leonardo da vinci, Donatello, Machiavelli… all the greats are there. The need to focus on man and humanism gave rise to the renaissance or rebirth. CHAPTER ELEVEN focuses on Church reformation, the reasons that led Martin Luther to nail his 95 Theses to the door of the Church at Wittenberg. Other reformers like Ulrich Zwingili and John Calvin are mentioned. The reformation within the Roman Catholic Church is also x-rayed. If asked to comment on this book in one sentence, I will say; ‘It is all the historic epic movies that have ever being made without the tricks, cameras and lights of Hollywood.’ It really is a must read. Our thanks should go to the extra ordinary sociologist Benjamin Opara for contributing this work to A Book a Week. Thanks Sir. From somewhere out there, Michael Ombu

Review # 2 was written on 2014-11-29 00:00:00 Robert Forster Yawn. The essential reading of historians in training. Bring a box of no-doze and a cup of coffee to wash it down.