There were fears that the second Greek election would be a repeat of the first. In terms of votes for anti and pro bailout parties, I haven't got the figures which include the small parties. But commentators have said that the anti and pro votes stayed more or less the same. The really big change was that the small parties lost out ("others" on the graph below) at the expense of New Democracy and Syriza, as my graph below shows. [IMG: 20120618-215935.jpg] [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
This financial year central council budgets will pay for the following East Dulwich ward streets to be resurfaced – Landcroft Road (£52,617) so clearly just the road beign resurfaced and Chesterfield Grove (£206,569) so the road and pavements being completely redone. Long overdue for both roads. Also some 19 'amber' lamp posts on Barry Road will be replaced at a costs £38,000 – 'amber' means getting close to failing. We're also anticipating where to spend £33,000 locally on road repairs. Where do you think we should spend this money?
Earlier this evening, following my surgeries at the Mitchell Street Centre and at Harris Academy, I participated in the City Council's Development Management Committee at which : * I spoke regarding the proposal for a supermarket in Hawkhill, strongly supporting the recommendation to refuse it, a recommendation unanimously agreed. Having listened to both deputations and read the report on the application, it was clear to me that this application did not comply with planning policy. As I indicated tonight, it is important that, in order to be able to vote at this committee in the interests of our constituents, councillors ...
It was a smart move of the Stratford Picture House to screen an avant-garde full-length feature film on London just a javelin's throw away from the Olympic Stadium, though I was surprised and saddened to find only half a dozen or so other people in the audience. The film was Patrick Keiller's 'London', made in ...
I have been informed by the Council that the License at Kansas Fried Chicken has now lapsed. The Council recently sent me the following email: Our Ref: 052667 Licence Type: Premises Licence (new) Premises: Kansas Fried Chicken, 424 Wilbraham Road, Manchester, M21 0AS Ward: Chorlton It has come to our attention that the licence holder at the above premises, (Waterford Services Ltd), became insolvent on (05/12/2008). Please be advised that, as per Section 27 of the Licensing Act 2003, a premises licence lapses if the holder of the licence - dies, becomes mentally incapable, becomes insolvent, is dissolved, or if ...
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert Cambridge MP Julian Huppert is fighting proposed new laws which could give the government broad powers to snoop on its citizens. He has been elected by Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg to sit on the Parliamentary committee which will oversee the controversial Communications Data Bill. Julian is adamant that, in its current format the legislation gives the government too much power to monitor every line of internet data. "It gives the Secretary of State far too broad a power," he said. "It allows data collection exercises that are perfectly reasonable - but would also allow pervasive ...
Residents in Cambridgeshire are being thanked for doing their bit for the environment as part of a special week dedicated to recycling. Recycle Week is being celebrated nationally from 18 to 24 June to help highlight how important recycling is as on average, residents in the UK threw away their own body weight in rubbish every seven weeks. It is important to find ways to reduce that waste and recover all useful materials to avoid sending valuable resources to landfill. To help the County Council is highlighting three top recycling week tips: Find out what you can & can't recycle ...
The following email has been sent by Metrolink to local Councillors about the work currently underway in the Mersey Valley: As you are aware, work is underway to build the Metrolink extension to Manchester Airport. The line will extend from the South Manchester line at Chorlton and run on 14.5km (9 miles) of new track over the Mersey Valley and into Wythenshawe crossing the M60 and M56 motorways, continuing through to the town centre and on to Manchester Airport. I am writing to provide you with an update on the construction work in the Mersey Valley area. Mersey Valley Viaduct ...
Residents and businesses are demonstrating there is strong demand for superfast broadband across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Latest figures show over 7000 residents and businesses have registered their demand for better broadband to support the countywide Connecting Cambridgeshire campaign, launched last month. But many more people need to register to show telecoms suppliers the level of demand, which will help to bring better broadband to the majority of homes and businesses in the county by 2015. Connecting Cambridgeshire is working with local councils and community groups to build a network of digital champions across the county to support the campaign. Growing ...
Health, the subject that left-wing politicians, believe to be their own, on the basis I suppose that the creation of national health service, is and was Labours best and least flawed inventions unlike much of the welfare state. Seeing a notice from, the latest campaign group, "Save our Health Service" courtesy of Christine Tongue (local film maker), promoting a demonstration outside the Broadstairs Health Clinic against Concordia Health Limited , I thought I'd make inquires, being naive, I naturally assumed that this would be one of those vaguely left of centre groups, apparently not, all are welcome. Just to underline ...
Blimey. I love that Noah & the Whale song. But that's not what this piece is about. It's about where Liberal Youth will be in 2017 (that seems ages away). It is quite a big question really. And has a few dependent factors, primarily dependent on the electoral position of the Liberal Democrats in 2017, post ...
I have got rather sidetracked by other issues, and so the Tie a Day series has got rather behind. But here is one of my favourite ties. It was, I think, a present from my parents quite a number of years ago. But it still comes out quite regularly, and now even gets worn by ...
Every now and then I come across a tie in T.M.Lewin that I like. It's not like I don't have enough ties as it is. One example is shown below. Source: tmlewin.co.uk via M on Pinterest Filed under: Style, Ties
This is no fantasy in Blackhill. It's a real project to help develop young people. The Derwent Valley Partnership has granted £6,500 to a project to get young people involved in a community allotment at the newly expanded Blackhill allotment site in Blackhill. The HAGGRID project (Horticulture, Agriculture, General Education and Individual Development) is one which aims to provide young people with a supported programme of agricultural and horticultural development in a community allotment based setting. It's hoped that this kind of engagement with gardening will help to develop a life-long love of growing things in a community environment as ...
The footpath between Aynsley Terrace and Consett Park is open again after about nine years. For over a hundred years the people of Consett and Blackhill had been linked by a shale path which ran through the park from St Aidans to Aynsley Terrace. It's there in the 1896/7 Ordnance Suvey maps, and though the Technical Institute site sprouted beside it some time early in the twentieth century, and much later St Aidans closed, the path went on unaffected until the long re-named Consett Technical College site was developed for new housing. Even then there was a condition in the ...
Great to see that common sense has prevailed and plans to ban photography on Glasgow subway have been dropped. Flash photography won't be allowed for safety reasons, which is fair enough. Argyll and Bute Council could learn from the way SPT behaved on this. The person operating their Twitter account was very switched on and took a lot of heat out of the situation very early on by engaging with people and encouraging them to submit their views. Willie Rennie, who opposed the ban from the beginning, thanked the eagle eyed people who spotted this in the first place. It ...
Ah, happy memories from back when Tom Watson and co. signed a letter to Tony Blair calling on him to quit, aka 2006. What did they do with the letter? Here's what: Downing Street said last night that it had received the letter, but that it had been sent to a random fax machine.
I have learnt to hate the flashing cursor, sat at the top of a blank page in Microsoft Word. For many people, my discovery of something to hate about Microsoft Word, Microsoft or computers in general may seem rather belated. My dislike of the old random crashes in the middle of work on a former computer didn't make me hate it. More, it generated the sigh of disappointment that you get if a chocolate cake recipe is not up to the mark. A shame that something that could and should be so much better has failed to deliver. But not ...
Apologies for the delay in posting this – forgot it was still just a draft post! 120995: Replace wrought iron fence on wall, Castle Road 121020: Fascia sign and projection sign, High Street 121024: Various changes to front entrance and outbuilding, North Hill 121025: Listed building consent for 121024 Please note that I am a member of the Council's Planning Committee for the next municipal year. This means that I'm required to act in a 'quasi-judicial' manner with regard to applications before the Committee and as such, can't make comments in favour or against planning applications as I may then ...
Last week was business week in Hull, and I really enjoyed attending some of the events to support local business. It is one of the biggest events like this in the country, and it was great to see so many people involved in business wanting to invest in the region, and take advantage of some of the great opportunities in our area. Sometimes it's too easy for business to be labelled as the 'bad' guy, interested only in profit. But there was plenty of evidence over business week of businesses willing, and in fact eager, to give back to their ...
'Maggie the Machine' is the star player in the England women's rugby set-up. The 5'4" Saracens flanker has over fifty international caps and a reputation for rib-crunching tackles. Born in Lewisham, South London, Alphonsi started playing rugby at fourteen at school in Salisbury. Captain of Saracens, she has won the women's rugby Premiership for four consecutive seasons. The highlight of her career so far was probably to play in the 2010 World Cup final against New Zealand. The All Blacks have dominated international women's rugby, much like their male counterparts, but England held them to within three points in the ...
GetReading reports: One of Reading's newest councillors has been spotted using a hosepipe to clean his car - despite the ban. Cllr Daya Pal Singh was seen on Sunday, May 27, cleaning his BMW outside his home in Tuxford Mews, West Reading. ...Cllr Singh, who was elected as a councillor to Kentwood ward on May 3, explained his new car had cost him £30,000. He said: "I am very sorry about this. I used a hosepipe to clean the bonnet of my car because someone or something had made a greasy mark on it and I was afraid it would ...
There were four principal council by-elections on June 14th, with an interesting town council contest thrown into the mix as well. In East Northamptonshire, we were very pleased to see a candidate selected and the election properly fought. For their troubles, the East Northants Focus team were rewarded with a handsome 20 per cent of the vote in the Barnwell ward, on a decent local election turnout of more than 40 per cent. With the precedent set, we look forward to seeing the East Northamptonshire team moving onwards and upwards, and hopefully finding some shiny new activists in the group ...
Extraordinary circumstance require extraordinary reactions. John Dodd approached me a while back to discuss how best to take things forward on the 'Scandal hit' Merseystravel.Labour's record at the transport authority is an embarrassment to almost everyone. Some credit does rebound to the Labour rebels who finally took on Mark Dowd but we must ask; what took you so long? Loyalty to the Labour Party or sheer funk stayed their hand for too many years at great loss to the tax payers and to the reputation of local government. Next time there is a proposal to give extra powers to local ...
Carried by Daniel Abbott aged 8 Carried by Jessica Seaman aged 5
Mon 18th
15:45
A Versatile Politician: Lord Tope - Guest Speaker at Dinner for Leading Lib Dem Councillors.
Guest Speaker Baron Tope at LGA Liberal Democrat Conference Dinner The guest speaker at a dinner in the University of Bedford last Friday organised by the Local Government Organisation for leading Liberal Democrat councillors was Councillor the Lord Tope – an unusual title to put on any business card. But if a "polymath" is a person who has a grasp of many different academic subjects, the Baron Tope just has to be a "polypolitician"! Graham Tope spoke mainly about his experiences as a local Liberal Democrat councillor in the London Borough of Sutton, setting out the opportunities as well as ...
Much has been made of the "chilling effect" of British defamation laws on public debate in recent years. Given that backdrop, the lack of furore over our criminal, as opposed to civil, regulations of speech is rather difficult to understand. Quite arguably, the chilling effect of these so-called 'speech offences' has been even more pervasive, akin to a Siberian winter at times, due to the woefully inadequate safeguards and catch-all wording that characterises almost each and every one of them. The six worst offenders are as follows: 1) Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 prohibits the use of any ...
Over the weekend, the press has been reporting that the first step to replacing Trident has been announced. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18479182 This is not true. This announcement in no way changes or contradicts the Liberal Democrat position on Trident. Liberal ... Continue reading →
Cornwall Liberal Democrats are seeking the backing of the council for the Fair Pay for Cornwall campaign in opposition to plans for regional or local pay agreements. The issue will be debated at the full council meeting at the beginning of next month. The proposal for regional pay was first put forward by the last Labour government which introduced it for some civil servants. But Tory Chancellor George Osborne has followed this up by asking different pay review boards to consider it for their areas. Regional (or local) pay schemes would be bad for Cornwall in many ways. It would ...
Road users, particularly cyclists, are increasingly unhappy about the state of Westerleigh Road between Shire Way and Westerleigh village. Back in March officers told local councillor Claire Young that they were aware of the problem and although it had not been considered a high enough priority to be resurfaced this year, as an interim measure patching would be carried out in 2012/13 to deal with some of the worst areas. Claire contacted officers again recently as the road is deteriorating fast. It will be inspected early this week to identify any immediate safety repairs and an engineer will reassess the ...
Yate Safer Stronger Community Group, which covers an area including Dodington Parish, is tonight at 7pm in Yate Library. This is a chance for you to raise issues that matter to you.
Mon 18th
13:54
The New Depression: Richard Duncan's prognosis of our economic ills and the answer to them
A slight change from the usual in my day job at MHP Communications has come courtesy of our client Richard Duncan and his new book, The New Depression, which is primarily about the US but with lessons that are very applicable to the UK. In a nutshell, his case is half-Austrian. Or indeed half-Keynesian. That is because whilst Duncan's diagnosis of the current economic ills is very much in the Austrian school of economics, with its emphasis on the role of credit, his prescription for fixing the economy is large-scale borrowing to fund infrastructure work, all of which sounds rather ...
[IMG: Thermometer] Kent Trading Standards have been made aware of fake digital thermometers being sold. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) seized more than 400 fake digital thermometers after raids in Harrow and Oxford. Some of the fakes were being sold for as little as 99p. The MHRA warned they could give inaccurate readings, posing a serious threat to children with potentially fatal illnesses such as meningitis. The raids were launched after the parents of a young child with leukaemia used a fake thermometer they had bought online and realised it was giving a misleading reading. The child ...
Prometheus 3D (15)Director ~ Ridley Scott*****http://www.prometheus-movie.co.uk/ Cast list on IMDB This sci-fi/horror prequel squelches off to a leaky start with a hominoid ET disintegrating in a special effects spectacular that sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Each lingering close-up, panning, zooming, 3D visual shot turns this much-hyped prequel into a fashion shoot for cinematic techno-wizardry. H.R. Giger's gorgeous murals are the mainstay of the alien vision on a distant planet that mankind has been pointed to by ancient cave paintings. This is where the story echoes the first Alien movie in so much as a team is ...
Scotland's top civil servant Sir Peter Housden is unlikely to have Willie Rennie on his Christmas card list, particularly as the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader has complained about him so many times. Even so, Sir Peter's non committal reply to Willie Rennie's legitimate concerns over whether Scottish Government phones had been hacked by newspapers is astonishing. If they hadn't been, why on earth not say so? His assertion that Operation Rubicon is an ongoing investigation in which, for operational reasons, disclosure of information has been highly restricted. Even the fact of whether Scottish Government telephones have been hacked has the ...
If visitors had landed from the Planet Zog and then read these three articles in order, they would end up quite confused Stephen Tall at Lib Dem Voice does something quite dangerous on political blogs by setting out...wait for it...facts. Yes stupid thing to do of course because, as we all know, they ruin a ...
There is a strand in the Party which says that it's all Clegg's fault: 'I don't agree with Nick'. If only he would move on, all would become well electorally. This misses many points: first, the Party is not a one man band; nor is the Government. Second: if there were a different leader ('It could have been me!' shouts Chris Huhne) how much would really be different? The Laws book on the Coalition indicates that senior members of the Party were bent on coalition with the Tories well before the 2010 election. Third: while we have all been driven ...
Regional pay looks to be turning out to be the first major issue on which there are disagreements seeping into the public arena between Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander. Two years into government is a long time for it to have taken for that to happen, but it does heighten the importance of the issue: @paulwaugh paul that means clegg and alexander two Lib Dems are at loggerheads bec FOI's reveal Alex v much in favour — David Hencke (@davidhencke) June 18, 2012 The FoI reference is to the text of a letter sent by Danny Alexander that extolled the ...
ALDC is currently looking for a "Regional Rep" in each of the 10 Lib Dem party regions in England (Scotland and Wales already have elected representatives on the ALDC Management Committee). This is a voluntary role (unpaid), but ALDC will reimburse expenses. We are doing this to help ensure that we are well connected with Regional Parties in England, and have a good presence at regional events. The job is: Act as a 'champion' of ALDC in your region - help us keep in touch with members and recruit more members and more group members. We'll put your details on ...
We are all used to seeing Alex Salmond jetting off round the world to meet foreign dignitaries. He's off to California soon, Hollywood no less, among other places, to "promote Scotland's interests". He's at a film premiere tonight, mixing with the rich and famous - as he seems to like doing. Let's not forget his mates Murdoch, Connery and Brian Souter and his former bff Donald Trump. Our globe-trotting First Minister has also been to China, the Gulf States and Norway in the past year. If he's bringing the money in by promoting Scottish products to foreign businesses, then fair ...
Just when you thought that political life was becoming one of substance again, the Guardian reports that looks and people's physical impressions of a candidate may be more important that what they stand for. The paper says that many people vote along party lines, but many others don't, and instead they ponder the data on both candidates before making a decision. They add that studies have found that although voters are usually unaware of factoring appearance into their decision, it may often be a deciding factor: In one experiment conducted at the University of California, researchers asked several groups of ...
Figures uncovered by Liberal Democrats show that Redcar & Cleveland Council only managed to meet half of its targets last year.At the full Council meeting this month, Lib Dem members asked the Labour Leader of the Council whether these figures amounted to a failure of the council's "Our Plan" strategy.Figures also show that 86% of "milestones" were completed by the council in its work. These are the mechanisms by which the measures are achieved.Liberal Democrat Councillor Josh Mason (pictured) commented:"Labour are achieving their milestones but not their targets. This suggests that there is something radically wrong with the way they ...
Chipping Sodbury Festival 2012 is now well under way with events for all ages - indoors, outdoors, daytime and evening. We've already been treated to a hilarious evening with Chris Harris (Bath Theatre Royal's Pantomime Dame) performing one of his world famous one man shows 'Arris Music 'All. Still to come during the festival are BAFTA-nominated singer guitarist Richard Digance, Tesitoura's Marriage of Figaro, Music in the Street and the Street Fayre and Carnival, all rounded off by the ever-popular prizewinning Flowers Band performing Last Night at the Proms. Visit the Chipping Sodbury Festival Website for details of all the ...
The media coverage of yesterday's critical Greek election has been truly appalling. The BBC and newspaper websites simply tell us that New Democracy has "won" and that Greece is now on course to form a government that is more accommodating to the EU. But New Democracy won last time, and this time Syriza did well. So why have things changed? Some of the websites give you the projected numbers of seats that each party has won. But they don't well you how they compared with last time – i.e. how many seats each party gained or lost. The Economist, usually ...
What Would a Second Obama Term Bring? Realistic assessment on the limitations of the presidency. (tags: uspolitics ) Aung San Suu Kyi - Nobel Lecture "The peace of our world is indivisible. As long as negative forces are getting the better of positive forces anywhere, we are all at risk. It may be questioned whether all negative forces could ever be removed. The simple answer is: "No!" It is in human nature to contain both the positive and the negative. However, it is also within human capability to work to reinforce the positive and to minimize or neutralize the negative. ...
Hardly had the first exit polls in Greece's latest general election appeared last night than the euro rose on currency markets and shares in Asia rallied. As far as financiers around the world were concerned, Greek voters had got it right. The conservative New Democracy party had come out in front, albeit by a narrow margin. And the threat of a Greek exit from the eurozone, with possibly dire consequences for the world economy, had been averted, at least for the time being. Significantly, only Greece's tiny Communist Party - which mustered about 4 per cent of the vote - ...
On Friday 4th May 2012 PCSO Mark Ball attended a seminar on Substance Misuse and its implications. The day was attended by over 100 other persons from various partner agencies. The day provided an opportunity for an insight into substance misuse as well as building strong working relations with other organisations. On Wednesday 16th May 2012 PCSO Mark Ball and PCSO Gary Carr attended the new Hockey facilities at Cheriton sports ground in relation to a large group of young persons trespassing and using the pitch without making payment. All persons were spoken to, provided with suitable words of advice ...
High levels of unemployment, both locally and nationally remain a major concern and a major challenge for the Government while we try and get the economy back on track. Unemployment among young people is particularly high, and the longer a ... Continue reading →
[IMG: Featured on Liberal Democrat Voice] Google released the latest update to their half-yearly Transparency Report today, something I've reported on previously. The Google data lists the number of "user data requests" per country, but what it doesn't do is break it down per head of population. Doing that breakdown gives depressing results. The UK had slipped into second place behind Singapore in terms of the number of requests per citizen, but as of the latest data – covering the second half of 2011 – we're back on top. The table below shows the top ten countries, with the number ...
The graph above shows that the coalition's current deficit-reduction plans are actually slower than Alistair Darling's. It comes from Stephen Tall's great article which shows the emptiness of the economic debate between government and opposition. If only we could spend more time and energy on who should bear the tax burden and what scarce resources should be spent on, politics might become
Sometimes it's hard to be a woman. Especially when you're made out of pixels | Charlie Brooker | Comment is free | The Guardian (tags: ) Look at the picture. Read the Comments. Laugh. (tags: ) Sherlock star says 'fans aren't keen' on a woman Doctor (tags: ) [IMG: comment count unavailable] comments
Between 2nd and 4th July, Link Road roundabout (the one between Kennedy Way, Link Road and Scott Way) will be subject to major resurfacing works. The works will involve planing off of the existing road and laying a new surface. The work will start at approximately 8.00 pm each evening and carry on until approximately 6.00 am. For the duration of the works, the roundabout and connecting roads will be closed from the junctions with Sundridge Park, Station Road, Heron Way and Scott Way to the roundabout. Diversion routes will be signed while the works are in progress.
A key part of the solution focused approach is learning from what works but there is a significant difficulty in learning about what is working. Sometimes it is not obvious. Sometimes it works for a while and then it stops working. So when I started this blog I have scanned the papers pretty much every ...
[IMG: House of Lords. House of Lords. Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament] Both the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Telegraph ran stories over the weekend about angry Conservative MPs threatening the government's plans for House of Lords reform, causing the plans to be "watered down". Skip past the story of MPs who think anger management (lack of) is a wise way to run the country (who knew so many Tory MPs see Gordon Brown as their role model?), delve into the details and you find a rather different story. That is because the two changes ...
The Government announces investment in Rolls-Royce to safeguard technology for nuclear propulsion, and the BBC's angle, is "Is this another Coalition split?" Let's get this right. Take aircraft engines. Rolls-Royce made its name back in World War Two by developing the gas turbine to power military aircraft. It was earth-shattering stuff, but had nothing to do with the development of munitions. Indeed, no one these days thinks that every aircraft powered by a jet engine is a military plane. The technology is transferable: Gas turbines power most civil aircraft, and large ships, help generate electricity and even force gas through ...
Hard to believe, but my childhood hero, former Beatle Paul McCartney turns 70 today. You wouldn't think it, given the stamina he showed on stage last December when my niece Laura and I, with a Responsible Adult in tow, went to see him. Over 3 hours on stage and over 43 songs. You can read my review of that event here. The bands of today would be completely floored just looking at such a setlist. That evening was definitely one of the highlights of my life. One of the things I really liked about McCartney was that, unlike many other ...
I was delighted when the local Mental Health Trust decided not to close down St Ann's Hospital. The Trust is now working to redevelop the site as a modern health facility providing not just mental health care but also other specialist health services too. Part of the site will also be used to build new homes under the re-development plans. The Trust is consulting with local people about the plans. It is putting its plans on display at Mayfield House, St Ann's Hospital, St Ann's Road until 3rd August. The display will also visit Hornsey library on 3rd July from ...
My daughter Kelly Seaman in the queue for the free refreshments provided by Dave Stones on behalf of Newcomen Ward Community Forum, whilst she waits for the Olympic torch to pass through Corporation Road, Redcar. Here it comes! The Mascot. The Sponsors. Coca Cola. Lloyds TSB. The Police Escort. Here it is!
The economy is the big issue: it was at the last general election, it has dominated and will dominate this parliament, and it will be the big issue at the 2015 general election. Yet trying to get behind the political rhetoric to discover the economic reality is surprisingly tricky. The purpose of this post is to look at what I see as the top five myths currently being perpetuated about the economy, and to explain why I think our current debate is misleading the public and diverting us from finding proper answers. Myth 1: UK public spending is reducing So ...
Given the choice between taking a cure to deal with the hangover following a binge on debt and simply getting drunk to conceal the hangover the greeks have (marginally) decided to go for the cure. That is best for the Greeks. I think it is also best for the rest of the world.
Not good at all:
At the recent West End Community Council meeting, a member advised that he had witnessed the driver of a vehicle - to avoid driving up to Greenmarket & then down past the Scottish Enterprise building to the station, where a diversion is in place during the Waterfront road works - simply drove across the pavement into the station car park area directly from South Marketgait, narrowly avoiding pedestrians. As reported in today's Courier, I raised the matter with the City Council's Director of City Development calling for action to prevent such a stupid and dangerous manoeuvre from being possible. In ...
I've just finished reading Michael Sandel's What money can't buy: The moral limits of markets, a book which has attracted quite a bit of media attention. It is an important book. Its importance does not lie in its originality: many of its arguments already exist in the literature. Its importance lies in its form: it brings the arguments out of the dusty corners of academic debate and frames them in an accessible way, rooted in vivid examples. The author's renown guarantees a broad audience. And its importance lies in its timeliness. The fallout of the financial crisis, brought about largely ...
I was on Wave 102 news yesterday regarding the encampment at the Technology Park. Click 'play' below to listen:
Today was a bit of an odd one because we had to miss a chunk of the middle of the day for Holly's birthday party (probably more on which later) but we still caught a few things: Red Sonja Apparently, this film is 89 minutes long. It feels like about 3 days. Ponderous would be a massive, massive understatement. Add to the tedious direction the "quality" of the acting from Schwarzenegger and the rest of the cast (although there's a nice bit part from the guy who does the poisoning bit in the Princess Bride) and the dodgy script, and ...
Many people, specifically those without faith, observe the pointlessness of life. There's no God, there's no objective reality with which life itself is a purpose for. Life is on its own and serves no greater purpose; Life has purpose iff there is something greater with which it relates to Atheist – there does not exist
