undefined function base_url()

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
Hi guys,
Am kinda new in Codeignitor and I seem to be running to probles.I have a project which has a Menu with

Code:

<a href="&lt;?php echo base_url();?&gt;">Home</a>

but when I try to create the same on a new installation of CI I seem to get an error as shown

<b>Fatal error</b>: Call to undefined function base_url() in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\kenya\application\views\blog\header.php</b>




Also with the link I get an error when I try to enclose

Code:

<?php echo $title;?>

at the title tags of my header view.Is there any configuration one has to set before he can use these function.Am asking because the othe rapplication seems to work fine.