All Articles
Why Social Democracy Was Great and Why It Isn’t the Answer
Yesterday I happened to read two very interesting articles, which at first glance would appear to be entirely unrelated. One was in New Scientist magazine and explained that, although GDP has risen fairly steadily in the west for the past several decades, the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), which attempts to adjust GDP for social and environmental health, has slowly been declining since 1978. The other article was an opinion piece in The Guardian by Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin. Here they explained why that without a threat of something more radical (ie: all-out socialism), the ruling classes see no need to engage in progressive economic policies.
Take a Listen
I was delighted to discover, several months ago now, that BBC had produced radio adaptations of some of the books by my favourite author, Terry Pratchett. Below is the first part of their adaptation of Guards! Guards! Take a listen!
Was There No Alternative?
I made the mistake today of making a distinctly anti-Thatcher comment. To this I received a (fairly typical) response that Thatcher saved Britain for anarchy and bankruptcy and that while her policies were unpleasant at the time, they were necessary. There are even plenty of people on the centre-left who say things like this. It irritates me to no end, but I figured that it was best to avoid getting dragged into a political debate in public. Of course, this being me, it continued to bother me through the day, so I’ve written some of my thoughts on the matter here.
Hello Facebookers!
Well, I’ve decided to announce this blog on Facebook. Having written two serious posts, one of which was quite work-intensive, I figured that there wasn’t much point in continuing if no one was going to read it. So it’s time to tell the world!
The Mathematics of Protest
I read a very interesting article in New Scientist magazine the other day which gave a mathematical and statistical examination of protest, in particular the recent protests in Brazil. It discussed how this sort of unrest spreads in much the same way as diseases and forest fires.
Hello World!
Well, I’m starting a blog.
