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question:A City financier who was made a Tory peer on Friday had given the party more than £330,000 just weeks earlier, it emerged yesterday. Michael Farmer’s latest donation is believed to take the total value of his gifts to the Conservatives close to £7million. His appointment sparked a cash-for-honours row, with critics claiming wealthy donors were able to buy places in the legislature. Hedge fund manager, Michael Farmer, was given a peerage by the Prime Minister last week - just weeks after handing the party more than £300,000 . Now the latest Electoral Commission figures have revealed that Farmer – who was appointed as the Tories’ co-treasurer in 2012 to help raise money – had donated £333,500 himself between April and June. Mr Farmer is known in the City as ‘Mr Copper’ after he made £100million in the international metal markets. He now runs the hedge fund Red Kite Capital Management. As well as donating several million pounds to the Tory party, the committed Christian has also given money to the think-tank set up by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith – the Centre for Social Justice, which works to defend the family unit. David Cameron has been accused by Labour of standing up for 'the privileged few' after taking millions of pounds from wealthy City donors . Of his political donations, Mr Farmer has previously said: ‘You can call me a City fat cat if you want, but I’m not giving away my hard-earned money for fun. 'I’m giving it away because I want to fund something I genuinely believe: that Cameron and the Tories will be a far better Government for the country than Labour.’ Last week the father-of-three said he was ‘greatly honoured’ to have been nominated by the Prime Minister to become a Conservative peer. He said he was looking forward ‘to working and supporting the Government in the House of Lords, in particular in its important long-term work for the economy, and in its ongoing reform of our welfare and educational systems’. Analysis by the Electoral Reform Society found that of the 21 new peers appointed by the three main parties, six were donors, while 16 had previously held some form of political position. Katie Ghose, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said: ‘These appointments further cement the impression that to get into the House of Lords, all you have to do is write a fat cheque to a political party or be a party hack.’ The appointment of Mr Farmer and his fellow new peers – including former M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose and The Apprentice star Karren Brady – boosted the numbers in the Lords to some 850. Other donors elevated to the Upper Chamber included jewellery tycoon Ranbir Singh Suri, dubbed the King of Bling, who gave more than £300,000 to the Tories either personally or through his firm. The Conservatives have strongly defended the appointment of Mr Farmer, describing him as a ‘worthy recipient’ of a peerage. Tory sources pointed out Mr Farmer’s philanthropic work and sponsorship of a successful academy school in south London. A Conservative Party spokesman added: ‘All donations to the Conservative Party are fully and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission and published on their website.’ Donations to Ukip have exceeded those to the Liberal Democrats for the first time. The party was given more than £1.4million in the three months to June – a three-fold increase on the previous period – compared to the Lib Dems’ total of £1.2million. Most of the Ukip total was accounted for by a single donation from Yorkshire entrepreneur and former Tory donor Paul Sykes, who gave the party just over £1million. It comes after Ukip reported its membership numbers had surged to nearly 40,000 during the European elections, meaning the party now has nearly as many members as the Lib Dems, who reported more than 43,500 members in their latest figures. The donations may be seen as reflecting the parties’ respective political fortunes over recent months. While Ukip romped to victory in the European Parliament elections in May, the Lib Dems saw their number of MEPs slashed from 11 to one. Ukip said the numbers were testament to the fact that the party was ‘replacing the Lib Dems as the third party of British politics’. Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: ‘We have got a long way to go in terms of our fundraising but we are getting there. ‘To overhaul the Lib Dems for the first time is another symptom of a very real change that is taking place in British politics.’ The figures were released by the Electoral Commission. They also revealed the Conservative Party has raised £7,185,709 in donations, nearly half of all the money raised by all political parties over the three month period – and almost double the £3.7million raised by Labour.
answer:City financier Michael Farmer, who recently donated over £330,000 to the Conservative Party, was appointed as a Tory peer last week, sparking a cash-for-honours controversy. Farmer, known as Mr Copper for his success in the metal markets, has reportedly donated nearly £7 million to the Conservatives over the years. His appointment, along with other wealthy donors, has raised concerns about the influence of big money in politics. Critics argue that such appointments undermine the integrity of the House of Lords, suggesting that peerages are being awarded to those who can write large cheques to political parties. Farmer, who is also a committed Christian, has defended his donations, stating that he believes in the Conservative Party's ability to govern better than Labour. The appointment of Farmer and other new peers, including former M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose and The Apprentice star Karren Brady, has increased the number of members in the House of Lords to around 850. The Conservatives have defended Farmer's appointment, highlighting his philanthropic work and support for an academy school in south London. The controversy extends beyond Farmer, with analysis by the Electoral Reform Society showing that six of the 21 new peers appointed by the three main parties were donors, and
question:Rewrite the following paragraph to make it suitable for children aged between 6 to 8 years old. The scientific process involves investigating the natural world through a rigorous, structured method that leads to hypotheses, experiments, and conclusions. Scientists must remain objective when analyzing their data, and they always look for evidence that supports or disproves their initial ideas.
answer:Science is a way we learn about the world around us. It helps us think of big questions, try fun experiments, and find answers. Scientists stay fair and make sure they find clues that tell them if their ideas are right or wrong.
question:Write a simple program that finds all the prime factors of a given number and prints them out in ascending order. This should work for numbers up to 1000000.
answer:Here is a Python program that finds the prime factors of a given number and prints them out in ascending order: ```python def prime_factors(n): i = 2 factors = [] while i * i <= n: if n % i: i += 1 else: n //= i factors.append(i) if n > 1: factors.append(n) return sorted(factors) num = int(input(Enter a number (up to 1000000): )) if num <= 1000000: factors = prime_factors(num) print(fThe prime factors of {num} are: {factors}) else: print(Number exceeds the limit (1000000).) ``` This program uses a while loop to divide the input number `n` by increasing integers `i` as long as `i` is less than or equal to the square root of `n`. If `n` is divisible by `i`, it divides `n` by `i` and adds `i` to the list of factors. If `n` is no longer divisible by `i`, it increments `i` by 1. The process repeats until `n` is reduced to 1. The remaining `n` greater than 1 is also added to the list of factors. The program then returns the sorted list of factors. Please note that this program uses a trial division approach, which is sufficient for numbers up to 1000000 but may be inefficient for larger numbers. For larger numbers, you may want to use a more efficient algorithm like the Sieve of Eratosthenes or the Pollard's rho algorithm.
question:Write a function which determines whether a given number is prime. This will be used on all numbers less than 1000000.
answer:Here is a Python function that determines whether a given number is prime: ```python def is_prime(n): if n < 2: return False for i in range(2, int(n**0.5) + 1): if n % i == 0: return False return True ``` This function first checks if the number is less than 2, in which case it is not prime. It then checks for divisibility from 2 to the square root of the number. If the number is divisible by any of these values, it is not prime. If it is not divisible by any of these values, it is prime. However, if you need to check for primality of many numbers, a more efficient approach would be to use the Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm, which generates all prime numbers up to a given limit. Here is an implementation of the Sieve of Eratosthenes: ```python def sieve_of_eratosthenes(limit): sieve = [True] * (limit + 1) sieve[0] = sieve[1] = False for i in range(2, int(limit**0.5) + 1): if sieve[i]: for j in range(i*i, limit + 1, i): sieve[j] = False return [i for i in range(limit + 1) if sieve[i]] # Generate all prime numbers up to 1000000 primes = set(sieve_of_eratosthenes(1000000)) def is_prime(n): return n in primes ``` This approach is more efficient because it generates all prime numbers up to the limit in a single pass, and then checks for primality by simply looking up the number in the set of primes.