Category Archives: current affairs

current affairs, personal, thoughts

End of an Era

2 Comments

The time has come for this long-in-the-tooth rat to abandon the good ship SS Work. I’ve been offered, and accepted, early retirement. It’s been in the offing for some while but has been confirmed only in the last couple of weeks. I leave officially on 5 January 2010, but my last full working day will likely be Friday 18 December, followed by a couple of part-days the following week to complete handovers etc.

This opportunity, brought about by the upcoming demise of our final salary pension scheme, is a bonus and the push I needed. I had always planned to retire around now, and certainly no later than age 60, so this is one of the few things in life so far I have achieved more or less as planned. (In fact I’ve planned very little in my life, being content to drift into whatever has been available; one reason I’ve not made it higher up the various ladders.) There’s lots else I want to do while I’m still young enough (and vaguely fit enough) to be able to. Have no fear, I shall certainly not be idle in my retirement.

33 years with one company is a long time. I’ve learnt a lot, had many enjoyable times and worked with many excellent people. There have, of course, also been some not so good times and some very stressful times; the last year or so has been an especially bumpy ride, although ultimately a successful one. I look back not in anger but more in sadness at the passing of an era, for my infamy shall precede me no more.

So roll on Christmas and a new beginning. Although it’s what I want, it’s actually quite scary!

current affairs, science, thoughts

Thought Provoking Scientists

The current issue of Scientific American contains the usual thought provoking features from its four regular, heavyweight opinion writers. Here is a taster of each of their articles:

First, Jeffrey Sachs on the challenges of tackling birth control and food production in tandem.

The green revolution that made grain production soar gave humanity some breathing space, but the continuing rise in population and demand for meat production is exhausting that buffer. The father of the green revolution, Norman Borlaug … made exactly this point in 1970 when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize: “There can be no permanent progress in the battle against hunger until the agencies that fight for increased food production and those that fight for population control unite in a common effort.”

It is not enough to produce more food; we must also simultaneously stabilize the global population and reduce the ecological consequences of food production – a triple challenge.

Next, Michael Shermer on the psychological differences between conservatives and liberals.

[Jonathan] Haidt [psychologist; University of Maryland] proposes that the foundations of our sense of right and wrong rest within “five innate and universally available psychological systems” that might be summarized as follows:
1. Harm/care …
2. Fairness/reciprocity …
3. Ingroup/loyalty …
4. Authority/respect …
5. Purity/sanctity …

Self-reported liberals are high on 1 and 2 … but are low on 3, 4 and 5 … whereas self-reported conservatives are roughly equal on all five dimensions, although they place slightly less emphasis on 1 and 2 than liberals do.

Instead of viewing the left and the right as either inherently correct or wrong, a more scientific approach is to recognize that liberals and conservatives emphasize different moral values.

Thirdly, Lawrence Krauss on filtering out bias in news reporting.

I reflected on something I had written a dozen years ago, in one of my first published commentaries:

“The increasingly blatant nature of the nonsense uttered with impunity in public discourse is chilling. Our democratic society is imperiled as much by this as any other single threat, regardless of whether the origins of the nonsense are religious fanaticism, simple ignorance or personal gain.”

As I listen to the manifest nonsense that has been promulgated by the likes of right-wing fanatic radio hosts and moronic ex-governors in response to the effort to bring the US into alignment with other industrial countries in providing reasonable and affordable health care for all its citizens, it seems that things have only gotten worse in the years since I first wrote those words …

I worry for the future of our democracy if a combination of a free press and democratically elected leaders cannot together somehow more effectively defend empirical reality against the onslaught of ideology and fanaticism.

And finally the always slightly off-the-wall, zen-like Steve Mirsky on knuckle-cracking research.

Most known knuckle crackers have probably been told by some expert – whose advice very likely began, “I’m not a doctor, but …” – that the behavior would lead to arthritis …

“For 50 years, [Dr Donald Unger] cracked the knuckles of his left hand at least twice a day, leaving those on the right as a control …

Finally, after five decades, Unger analyzed his data set: “There was no arthritis in either hand, and no apparent differences between the two hands.” He concluded that “there is no apparent relationship between knuckle cracking and the subsequent development of arthritis of the fingers.” Evidence for whether the doctor himself was cracked may be that he traveled all the way from his California home to Harvard University to pick up his Ig Nobel Prize [in Medicine awarded in 2009] in person.

The good thing about all of this is that these guys are working thinkers and are tackling some really knotty issues; moreover they write clear and concise single page articles such that you come away not just understanding the issue but being able to form your own opinion, whether with or against the writer’s standpoint. We need more people like these guys: clear concise communicators with the vision to see the issues and the brain-power to tackle them head-on without recourse to vested interests and politics. More power to Scientific American for allowing them this freedom.

beliefs, current affairs, freedom of speech, medical, nudism, personal, science, sexuality, thoughts

Taboo!

2 Comments

I’ve been thinking recently about our taboos. What I find curious is where we individually draw the boundary lines between what’s acceptable, what’s unacceptable and what falls in the grey area between. This is partly because some of my views are diametrically opposed to the norms of our society, but also because as a society, and as a collection of individuals, we seem to be sleep-walking into far too many important decisions.

We can probably all agree on a common set of things we think should be outlawed: child abuse, female circumcision, rape, gratuitous animal cruelty. And a set of things which are (generally) OK: sweets, alcohol, blood transfusions, prison for offenders. Although I know there are people who will abhor even these.

Most people would not discuss – and are not comfortable with – pornography, nudity, sex, bodily functions, incest or death. And then of course there are things which are for many on the borderline: animal cruelty for food (aka. abattoirs), abortion, stem cell research.

But this is not where I, personally, would draw the line. For me there is no problem with pornography, sex, nudity, bodily functions and I think even death (it is after all an inevitable consequence of life, at least as we know it). Incest I would say is borderline at worst and under some circumstances OK – why should a brother and sister not have a loving sexual relationship if they wish, as long as they remain aware of the possible dangers.

For me – and I stress this is just my personal opinion – there are far more important things to worry about and which I find at best questionable and at worst objectionable; some I would probably class as obscene – not a word I use lightly or often. The above list of common taboos is a good start to this list with most of them, at least some of the time, being in the obscene category.

However my questionable or unacceptable list contains other things most people find OK: IVF, male circumcision, genetic modification, airport expansion, a federal Europe, positive discrimination, religion, capital punishment, cosmetic surgery (for the sake of personal vanity rather than as a real medical necessity). And my jury is still out on stem cell research.

What I find interesting about this is not that I have different opinions (I’m an eccentric; I expect to have my own, different opinions) but that so few people appear to do likewise.

Society’s taboos, taken as a whole, are essentially the aggregate set of beliefs the majority of individuals find abhorrent – at least as enacted by the great and the good we elect to speak on our behalf and make law (politicians, religious leaders, etc.). It is only by people with differing opinions questioning and challenging this status quo which eventually results in the shift of the agreed set of taboos. Such is how we make progress.

All of this has so far left aside the more personal things. Do you have to be totally private, behind a locked door, in the bathroom or bedroom? Why is sex with the light on such a no-no? Are you OK with sleeping in the nude? As many will realise by now I am pretty open. We’re comfortable with social nudity – indeed any nudity. We both sleep au naturel and prefer it that way. Doors are never shut (except possibly to exclude the cats, and even that is rare). We actively dislike net curtains. We share the bathroom. In fact I think the only thing I have any possible hang-ups about is someone watching me wipe my arse – and even that isn’t a discomforting as it used to be. I was also wary of seeing my late father’s ileostomy – I felt this was intruding too far onto something private to him, although it didn’t seem to worry him; and let’s be fair it is not the most tasteful of things. Why I felt like this I don’t know; it surprised me. Indeed having been brought up to be slightly bohemian, think for myself and have my own opinions, I find it rather odd that I have any taboos at all.

As one of your “working thinkers” (to quote Douglas Adams) what I find distressing is that the majority of people don’t think about such things. There was a research finding a few years ago, which I now cannot place, that found 5% of people are unable to think; 5% of people can think and do so; the remaining 90% of people can think but just don’t. Even sadder is that many of this 90% are content to be told what they think by others, and that means mostly the tabloid press, politicians (who usually seem to have a vested interest) and religious bigots – plus a few cranky academics and do-gooders who manage to get “air time”. But then, despite the fuss some of this “silent majority” make, they probably don’t actually much care as long as someone keeps them in the credit card debt they’ve become attuned to.

Come on guys, wake up at the back! If you want things to get better you need to engage your brains and think through the consequences of your (our) actions. Think about the long term consequences of IVF, air travel, stem cell research. Use what brain cells you have; engage in dialogue with other people. Nobody asks that you are high-powered philosophical thinkers, just that you think as best you can about what is right and make up your own mind. If you then decide you’re happy with the consequences of these things, that’s fine. If you’re not, then you need to be heard. Doing nothing leaves those who do think to fight it out with those with vested interests – and the outcome may well not be the right one – or the one you actually want, whatever that is.

current affairs, quotes

Where we are now …

1 Comment

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
[HL Mencken]

Somehow this has a worry ring of veracity in these trying times.

H/T Julian Allason

current affairs, science, topographical

Tick … Tock … F***

1 Comment

Aarrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!

It’s flaming clock change day again!

I get really fed up with continually changing the clocks … forward an hour … backward an hour … forward an hour … ad nauseam.

Why? It isn’t necessary. It isn’t as if are at war now. And the myth that summer time saves lives has been exploded as just that: a myth. All it does is create an irritation and cost industry money. FFS why can’t we stay on GMT. We need to start a campaign:

Save GMT. It’s our cultural heritage.
current affairs, freedom of speech, thoughts

Human Rights and MPs' Expenses

3 Comments

Bystander, over at The Magistrate’s Blog, has posted the list of our human rights, as promulgated in the European Convention on Human Rights and enacted in the UK via the Human Rights Act 1998. This list is:

  • the right to life
  • freedom from torture and degrading treatment
  • freedom from slavery and forced labour
  • the right to liberty
  • the right to a fair trial
  • the right not to be punished for something that wasn’t a crime when you did it
  • the right to respect for private and family life
  • freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom to express your beliefs
  • freedom of expression
  • freedom of assembly and association
  • the right to marry and to start a family
  • the right not to be discriminated against in respect of these rights and freedoms
  • the right to peaceful enjoyment of your property
  • the right to an education
  • the right to participate in free elections
  • the right not to be subjected to the death penalty

Nothing there which one can reasonably object to, of course. Although all these rights (with the exception of torture) are not absolutes and can be overridden by the authorities, eg. in order to arrest a suspect.

The one which stood out to me reading this was

the right not to be punished for something that wasn’t a crime when you did it

I am not a lawyer but this seems to me to negate the whole of the MPs’ expenses fiasco. What MP’s have done was (mostly) not forbidden when they did it. That doesn’t say the rules, and therefore what was done, were right, only that the rules allowed what was done. It is only now that what the MPs did is being made forbidden, retrospectively. That seems contrary to the above right.

Is that alone not grounds for a judicial review? And what is anyone therefore complaining at the MPs for?

Remember that anything not explicitly forbidden by the rules (or legal precedent) is permitted. And if something is permitted, someone will (quite legally) take advantage of it, even if that was not your intent when making the rules.

You can try arguing, as the Daily Mail no doubt will, that the MPs “should have known better”. But really this doesn’t hold water. Why should MPs be any more (or less) moral than the rest of us? They were taking advantage of the rules in good faith (even if perhaps somewhat cynically) in the quite reasonable belief that they would (could) not be changed retrospectively. We all do exactly the same every day of our lives. For example: the law allows me today to drive at 50mph along the A40; in doing so I have a reasonable expectation that I will not be prosecuted for my action today, after the limit is lowered to 40mph tomorrow.

Yes, by all means campaign for the rules on MPs’ expenses, or indeed anything else, to be changed. But don’t vilify someone for adhering to those rules just because you (retrospectively) decide you don’t like them. At worst this violates that great institution “natural justice” and at best it is contrary to our legally enshrined human rights. Perhaps the tabloid press should be prosecuted under the Human Rights Act 1998?

PS. Note that I am not saying whether I agree or disagree with the rules on MPs’ expenses. My personal opinion is of no importance here as I am making a purely logical point about my understanding of our legally enshrined human rights.

current affairs, memes, personal, photography

Mini Sports Meme


Mini Sports Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr meme is about sport.

1. Your favourite sport. Cricket — really good club cricket; I’ve given up on professional cricket: not only has it been dumbed down the idiots running the game seem totally inept
2. Your least favourite sport. Darts; the only place it belongs, if anywhere, is in the pub
3. A sport you use to play as a kid. Cricket was my first love, followed by hockey
4. A sport you like to watch. Rugby; I hated playing rugby at school, but always enjoyed watching it
5. The most stupid sport. Netball; how stupid is a game where you have to stop when someone is holding the ball?
6. A sport you wish you could play. Squash, although I’d settle for almost anything now my knees have given up; I used to play a lot of squash as a student, not that I was ever any good!

As always the photographs are not mine so please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and normally 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

1. Village Cricket, 2. 127/365: Dart board, 3. The Fever named Cricket!, 4. Mini Rugby Tournament Cooke Rugby Club – 4th April 2009, 5. neilhodgins_volley_netball-18, 6. squash

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys

current affairs

Selling the Family Silver

So our pathetic government is planning to sell off even more of the family silver. Well they would; they’re desperate for more money and anything they can do to make the state of our finances look healthier before a General Election. The proposals, which will actually raise at best a drop in the ocean national debt, include the sale of:

Eurotunnel. Yeah, great idea. Let the French, Spanish, Libyans or Saudis buy it. So we have no control at all of who can enter the country. We need more (illegal) immigrants.

Student Loan Book. Another great idea! Let’s package up all this bad debt and sell it off to someone else. Hold on … isn’t this where we came in??

And when should we sell these assets? Oh let’s choose to do it at the bottom for the market!

Talk about the blind leading the inept! They just do not get it do they?

books, current affairs, pleasures

Apologia Americana

1 Comment

First of all apologies for the non-existence of postings for most of the last 3-4 weeks. Yes, you guessed we’ve been away and have struggled with the quantity of the work fore-log and post-log.

Almost 3 weeks in Washington, DC – partly at the 5th Biennial Anthony Powell Conference – was certainly different. I liked Washington; I didn’t expect to. Apart from a couple of areas of high-rise office blocks it is a small and fairly human-scale city: most of the official buildings of the US government are 100+ years old, so usually only 4 or so (substantial) floors and built of light coloured stone. The public monuments are, as befits America, monumental. The streets are wide, often tree-lined, light and airy with an almost continental feel. The White House is a lot smaller than I expected and, err, white; you can stand at the railings in full view of, and not many yards from, the building and protest – unlike in paranoid London. Georgetown is full of very pretty late 18th century houses (a bit like the best parts of Chiswick, Kew or Richmond), but it is expensive!

The food was excellent, especially recommended are Papa Razzi and Mr Smith’s. The beer was cold. The weather was hot – we didn’t have a day under 75F – and humid but mostly dry. American service was not everything it is cracked up to be: the 50% of the time it was good it was excellent; when it wasn’t the customer care was equally as bad as anything you’ll find in Britain. And contrary to expectations, and warnings, the airport staff (immigration, security and customs) were polite and friendly – although immigration on the way in through Dulles Airport did take 90 minutes even at a quiet time, thanks to too few checkpoints open and a plane-load of Far Eastern tourists with large complex family structures in front of us in the queue. The taxis were friendly, efficient and much cheaper than in the UK; the metered cabs were 40% cheaper than I pay for a minicab in outer London, which makes them half the cost of London black cabs.

We even got taken to Colonial Williamsburg (thanks Alden!) which is rather delightful: interesting and a lot less Disney-esque than I expected; it isn’t cheap though, but then it is a theme park of sorts. It was a bit too hot and humid for comfort though – but a good excuse for some extra traditional cider! But why does an historic attraction like Colonial Williamsburg need not one, but two, 18-hole golf courses? It beats me!

All in all a good time was had. The flights were fun, out over the spectacular fjords of Labrador and back over night. Photos to follow on Flickr when I get some time to sort out the decent from the dross.