Krugman: A Game of Chicken

Nice summary of the Greek problem.


"Like all too many crises, the new Greek crisis stems, ultimately, from political pandering. It's the kind of thing that happens when politicians tell voters what they want to hear, make promises that can't be fulfilled, and then can't bring themselves to face reality and make the hard choices they've been pretending can be avoided.
I am, of course, talking about Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and her colleagues."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/opinion/a-game-of-chicken.html

Free Speech

Free speech, we know, means being free to say what we like, but it also means being free to say what we don't like. It also means being free to not say things we could say. This means I am free to argue that somebody shouldn't say something I don't like, and I would like them to choose not to say it, but it doesn't mean that I can stop them saying it. On the other hand, if I'm saying something that others don't like, I can stop saying it even if I think it's right but nobody should be able to stop me. Free speech also allows me to say things that aren't true, including things I know aren't true. The only limit  is when what we say can cause harm, but what harm is and what causes it are not clear cut, but we should be free to debate it.

Human Rights

Things the Tories want to get rid of

Article 1 Respecting rights

Article 2 Right to life

Article 3 Prohibition of torture, ill-treatment

Article 4 Prohibition of slavery and forced labour

Article 5 Right to liberty and security

Article 6 Right to a fair trial

Article 7 No punishment without law

Article 8 Right to respect for private and family life

Article 9 Freedom of thought, conscience and religion

Article 10 Freedom of expression

Article 11 Freedom of assembly and association

Article 12 Right to marriage

Article 13 Right to an effective remedy

Article 14 Prohibition of discrimination

Make Terrorism Illegal

How can it be after all these years of counter terrorism that it is still legal to be a terrorist and needs further legislation?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/30/theresa-may-tory-government-snoopers-charter

Perhaps they're struggling to secure convictions of innocent people and need more laws to get them?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/01/moazzam-begg-freed-case-collapses

Labour Surrender

Two very interesting articles about Ed Miliband forgetting the deficit and the media reaction to it:
Is Britain Suffering Under The Strain Of Too High A Deficit?
More mediamacro

I despair at Labour's cowardly behaviour towards the economy. The Tory economic strategy is a proven failure, just because the media can't bring themselves to admit it is no reason to go along with it. Aping the Tories self-hating government, cutting back when investment is needed will never lead to victory. Labour will never be trusted to be more vicious than the Tories, and any support for Tory failures will only help the Tories.

Now is the time to bring the media to account, and be strong about the right way to tackle the economy. Now is the time to bring forward a positive plan for the future. Fear mongering encourages selfish actions, which increases Tory support. Labour needs to embrace a positive view of the future, invite the population to embrace a brighter future. Unfortunately I don't see Ed Miliband or Ed Balls having the self confidence to pursue this, they are chasing shadows with the media and will always come off second best.

Independence Requiem?

Now is the time for change, if we don't deliver real power to the Scottish people there will be a renewed call for independence. On the other side, if real power is given to the Scots the rest of the UK will become increasingly disgruntled.

David Cameron's first act was to promise less power for Scotland in Westminster. An alarming misunderstanding of the issues or an immature attempt at party politics when real statesmanship is needed. Labour need to stop ignoring their electorate if they wish to move forward.

The West Lothian question is best answered by giving real power to all UK regions, whatever is given to Scotland should also be given to Wales, Northern Ireland and ideally all regions of England, but at least to England as a whole. Westminster itself then needs to be fully rethought in the face of devolution. The biggest decision, as a follow on from devolution and The West Lothian question, is should Westminster be proportionally representative or continue as a chamber of local representatives.

The independence vote was a just the the start the real debate that should now take place. If we don't find the right answers, and ask the right questions we will open up the independence debate again. If we don't get this right Scotland will probably not give us another chance.

Independence

With the Scottish Independence vote heading towards a break up of the union I am truly sad and nervous about the future for all parts of the UK. 

I believe strongly in the benefit of Union; the United Kingdom, European Union even the United Nations. For all the structural failings that these organisations contain I truly believe we are better together and should find a way to make that work.

Both UKIP and the SNP make the same argument, that we would be better without our Unions, that a perceived loss of control could be regained, yet neither sees the inconsistency of supporting one union but not the other. I have no time for the political vision that UKIP has for us but I am more supportive of the politics that the SNP would follow, but should that make me more supportive of Scottish Independence? Specifically I am mostly in agreement with the Scottish Nationalists about the damage done by London Centric, England Centric policies that leave Scotland under performing. 

There are serious obstacles facing an Independent Scotland, the best case scenario, in my view, would be for it to inherit the UK position in Europe and take on an independent currency. The worst case would be exclusion from the EU and a forced currency Union with the Pound. However, I feel these are only transitional obstacles and that within a generation, perhaps within as little as 10 years, Scotland will be making the advances it hopes for. 

There is a risk that unintended consequence intervene, that without Scotland the remainder of the UK falls victim to anti-Europe mania and ends our time with the EU then the border with an EU Scotland could become fenced and policed far better than the Romans could have imagined.

I also feel the Scottish Independents, whilst criticising the politics of England, don't acknowledge why we have the policies we do and therefore ignore the changes that independence would bring. Money is attracted to power, and once Scotland regains power over itself it will also attract the attention of those that seek to influence policy. There is little evidence that Scottish people are very different to the English and therefore just as likely to end up voting in a way that turns Scotland towards the same policies it currently abhors.

Overall I am disappointed that the Unionist argument has become threatening, paternalistic and patronising and therefore driven people towards Independence. The Unionist argument should not have insisted that all is good, there needed to be honesty and humility, we should have been asking how we make the Union stronger. Indeed the discussions of the last twenty years should have been about improving our democracy throughout the UK; an idea that badly stalled under New Labour

Despite my sympathies with the current Scottish situation, and a belief that Scotland could become a stronger country outside of the UK I don't think it is worth risking the support of nationalist ideas, which appear to me as a form of divide and rule by the those that seek to steer the policies of our countries. I remain committed to Unionism and hope we can find a way to improve all our unionists institutions so that we do find strength in numbers and put aside our short term problems in favour of long term improvements. I want Scotland to be stronger, I want the UK to be stronger.

Who's in control nation states or global corporations? | Gary Younge

Frustrating that UKIP gets support when it's corporate friendly policies cause the problems that they blame immigration and the EU for. Who's in control nation states or global corporations? | Gary Younge http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/02/control-nation-states-corporations-autonomy-neoliberalism

Michael Rosen: Ken Loach says goodbye to Margaret Thatcher

"How should we honour her? Let's privatise her funeral. Put it out to competitive tender and accept the cheapest bid. It's what she would have wanted."

http://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ken-loach-says-goodbye-to-margaret.html?spref=tw&m=1

(Source: https://twitter.com/MichaelRosenYes/status/321333797100597249)

Warning. This article on gay marriage contains optimism | Gary Younge

"The arc of history is long but it bends towards justice," said Martin Luther King.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/07/gay-marriage-optimism-activists

The new iPad

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/03/15/pogue-ipad

The new iPad does seem to be something and nothing in terms of an upgrade and John Gruber is right to defend the newness. It is however Apple that has spent years getting us to move on from tech spec numbers and look at features, and the new iPad can be viewed as a spec change as it doesn't have a new OS version that the iPhone 4S got over the iPhone 4.

Article: The Top Idea in Your Mind

Fascinating ideas, well worth remembering.

The Top Idea in Your Mind
http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html

(via Instapaper)

Something vile is growing in America

Arizona:

"The mood has changed, too, among white Americans, who have interpreted the increasingly aggressive language used by politicians as a green light to express their own prejudices. Incidents of harassment towards undocumented Latinos from employers, landlords and neighbours have increased. Should the victims protest, they are frequently taunted with the refrain: "So what are you going to do about it, tell the police?"

"

Ninjawords: iPhone Dictionary, Censored by Apple

Just reading the linked story, Apple really do have to do something before their reputation is sunk.

A couple of key quotes:

"In other words, the App Store reviewer(s) explicitly searched for curse words they already knew, and found them."

"Every time I think I’ve seen the most outrageous App Store rejection, I’m soon proven wrong. I can’t imagine what it will take to top this one.

Apple requires you to be 17 years or older to purchase a censored dictionary that omits half the words Steve Jobs uses every day."

Banned from school for not going to school?

I love the logic:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/06/snow-britain-weather-travel

"Fifty pupils have been suspended after they went on strike because their school stayed open through the snow. The year 10 and 11 pupils at Nova Hreod school, Swindon, refused to come back in from the playing field after morning break on Wednesday.

Headteacher Julie Tridgell said she had to give a tough response, as ringleaders encouraged the students to stay out. The pupils, who cannot return to school until Monday, had been using the strike as an excuse for bad behaviour."

"The false choice between our safety and our ideals"

Executive Orders of Barack Obama (http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/executive_orders/)

- Ensuring Lawful Interrogations
- Review of Detention Policy Options
- Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities




Thank you Barack for this sanity.

Retailers push the MP3 format with new logo

I would prefer a logo that promotes DRM-free regardless of format. I personally prefer AAC, but I think it is retailers that don't understand different formats; I downloaded and AAC file from 7digital and it turned out to be wrongly encoded as a MP4 video file.

Microsoft fingers Apple and Real for Vista insecurities

Yep, security is not the problem with Vista. :)

Why does Phorm concern you?

Trust is always a concern, but a key issue for me is control. With Phorm I feel I have no control. An example of good control is Amazon's recommendations, if I buy a book for someone else I can tell Amazon not to use it for making recommendations, I have control. With Google, I agree to their adverts and find them unobtrusive and helpful, but I can not use Google as and when I choose.

My analogy of Phorm would be if my water company examined my sewage to see what foods I had eaten, and then added 'flavours' to my drinking water to tempt me to buy new food and drink.

Telegraph: Mixed evidence for black sprinters' monopoly

It is even easier to dismiss when you realise that Olympic champions, whether it be Steve Redgrave or Carl Lewis, are 'freaks', outside the norm. So drawing conclusions from the edges might be hard to apply to the flat-footed kid sitting next to you.