Jolyon Maugham QC on Covid cronyism
The work that The Good Law Project is doing to hold the UK Government to account is fantastic stuff. It’s well worth reading this piece published in The Observer about its founder and public face, Jolyon Maugham.
Politics
The return of American fascism
Fascinating article by Sarah Churchwell in The New Statesman on the history of American dalliances with fascism in art and in reality. Some excepts below. But read the whole thing. Its a marvellous piece of writing.
We need to fight for the future
It’s been a weird year from a politics point of view. The Brexit vote was a disaster for the UK and the world in general in my opinion. That was followed up by Trump winning the USA Presidential election. Both results allegedly due to people feeling left out of the way the modern world is changing. So they voted for campaigns led by two groups of mostly rich white men who couldn’t be more removed from the people affected by globalisation. The blue collar jobs that have moved from the UK and USA to Asia are not coming back. They will be taken by machines. Irrespective of where they happen to be situated.
It’s striking that many of the hangers-on and fellow travellers of the Brexit and Trump camps are anti science, anti women’s rights, evidence deniers, who promise the Earth then deliver little. They must be resisted.
I’m an internationalist. The Brexit supporters may get the UK out of the EU, but they’ll never get the European ideals out of me. The values of the European project and the Enlightenment are worth fighting for and will triumph in the end. But we must do it by educating people for the 22nd century and the change that ubiquitous smart manufacturing and machine learning will bring in. People will need to do other jobs that the machines will not do better. We should start by giving everyone a good basic income that they can live comfortably on. Then they can work on things that make them happy. Including looking after the planet and other people.
Political change
I’ve been a supporter, and occasional member, of the Conservative Party since 1979. I started supporting them when I was about 15 during the Winter of Discontent. Labour were then, and are now, a political and actual disaster for the UK. The election of Margaret Thatcher’s conservative administration was the best thing that happened to this country for a long while.
Times change and people change. I’ve certainly changed in the years since 1978. The idealistic 15 year old boy is now a 45 year old man (who still has an idealistic 15 year old lurking within!). Of the 3 main political parties in the UK I think that my current world view and outlook is best matched by the Liberal Democrats.
In Northern Ireland the Liberal Democrats are allied with The Alliance Party. You can’t vote for the Liberal Democrats directly. This is a pity. Hopefully it will change at some point.
In the forthcoming election I will be voting Alliance and will be donating to the Liberal Democrats. My vote will not change the MP that is elected in the East Belfast constituency. It will however make it easier for me to look in the shaving mirror.
I hope that the Liberal Democrats get the chance to lead this country in to the 21st century to a fair, and liberal environment for all.
Assuring failure from the start…
Gordon Brown seems to make pronouncements too soon. Witness the Iraq war enquiry. Private on Monday. Maybe not today. Then we have him saying he wants Britain to be the Digital Capital of the world. This is just opening the project up to accusations of failure. Why not just talk about the goal being to improve the broadband access across the country. It doesn’t mean we have to be the Digital Capital of the World. We just need better infrastructure to allow our digital industries and consumers to function. If other countries have as good, or better, digital access then more power to them. It doesn’t mean the UK project will be a failure. Unless you declare up front that the goal is to be the Digital Capital of the World!
President Obama on science
More change 🙂
If anyone doubted that change has come, and come to science, they need to watch this video. We’ve been waiting a long, long time for a president to take this kind of interest in furthering the cause of science in our country. His budget calls for a doubling of our nation’s investment in basic research in the coming years: “No one can predict what new applications will be born of basic research: new treatments in our hospitals; new sources of efficient energy; new building materials; new kinds of crops more resistant to heat and drought.” “It was basic research in the photoelectric effect that would one day lead to solar panels. It was basic research in physics that would eventually produce the CAT scan. The calculations of today’s GPS satellites are based on the equations that Einstein put to paper more than a century ago….”
You can watch the video at the Cosmic Variance site linked below.
Read more & watch video: Obama on Science | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine
Another brilliant, inspiring Barack Obama speech
Not really a surprise anymore. I think that Barack Obama will stand tall as one of the giants of humanity when historians in future centuries gather to discuss pivotal figures. We are privileged to be here on Earth now to witness him first hand. Listen to his Lincoln Memorial 2009 speech here. Part 2 here.
Obama to reverse foreign abortion rule
More good news for the first week of President Obama.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that promote or perform abortions, officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
More details at: Obama to reverse foreign abortion rule – White House- msnbc.com
Green light for US stem cell work
More change we can believe in 🙂
US regulators have cleared the way for the world’s first study on human embryonic stem cell therapy.
The move comes three days after the inauguration of President Barack Obama who has been a strong supporter of embryonic stem cell research.
Full story at: BBC NEWS | Health | Green light for US stem cell work
Making progressive conservatism a reality
David Cameron gave a speech today on Progressive Conservatism. Still have to read it. I’ll comment on it if required after I read through it. You can read the whole thing at the URL below.
David Cameron: Making progressive conservatism a reality
From: The Conservative Party | News | Speeches | David Cameron: Making progressive conservatism a reality
Obama orders Guantanamo closure
This is brilliant news. Obama promised it on the campaign trail but it’s good to see it happen. This does not mean that all the people in the prison will just be turfed out the gates. Nor should it. It means that those that have charges to answer will be tried in proper courts with proper evidence. Guantanamo Bay, or what has gone on there, rather than the physical place, is a stain on the ideals that the USA used to stand for. Proper due process of the inmates will go a long way to restoring the reputation of the USA.
US President Barack Obama has ordered the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to be closed within one year.
More details at: BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Obama orders Guantanamo closure
A new dawn
Like a lot of other people I was really happy to see Barack Obama get elected the 44th President of the USA. I’ve been following Obama’s speeches and policy positions for the last 6 months or so and had come to the conclusion that he would be a breath of fresh air for the USA and the wider world. Hopefully he will be able to manoeuvre as he wants in the current economic crisis, and that he gets the full 2 terms. Heck I hope he is so successful that there is a popular uprising to set aside the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution that limits Presidents to 2 terms.
Looks like my Electoral College vote prediction was right on the mark 🙂 That prediction was built on the excellent information posted on the 538 site in the weeks running up the to the election.
Apple donates $100,000 to fight Prop. 8
Apple comes out publicly to oppose the Proposition 8 vote in California on November 4th. Prop 8 seeks to overturn the Californian Supreme Court ruling on same sex partnerships.
Apple donates $100,000 to fight Prop. 8Apple said it views Proposition 8 as a civil rights issue, not a political one and as such, is donating $100,000 to defeat the measure, it announced today. Prop. 8 is aimed at defining marriage as only between a man and a woman and preventing same-sex marriages.”Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights – including the right to marry – should not be affected by their sexual orientation,” the company said on its website today.
More at: The Technology Chronicles : Apple donates $100,000 to fight Prop. 8
Larry David: Waiting for Nov. 4th
Larry David is cracking up waiting for the USA election to happen –
I can’t take much more of this. Two weeks to go, and I’m at the end of my rope. I can’t work. I can eat, but mostly standing up. I’m anxious all the time and taking it out on my ex-wife, which, ironically, I’m finding enjoyable. This is like waiting for the results of a biopsy. Actually, it’s worse. Biopsies only take a few days, maybe a week at the most, and if the biopsy comes back positive, there’s still a potential cure. With this, there’s no cure. The result is final. Like death.
More at: Larry David: Waiting for Nov. 4th
The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama
Just finished reading Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. It is a very good book indeed. I read it in print form (on the Sony Reader) and as an Audio book. Skipping between the formats depending on what I was doing. The audio book version is read by Obama. He could have a good career as a voice actor in 8 years after his Presidency 🙂
The book itself is a very good manifesto for a fair and tolerant society. Parts of it moved me close to tears, whilst other parts made me laugh out loud. Not at the ideas but rather at the prose and the turn of phrase used. The only part of the book I disagree with is the chapter on Faith. Obama is a Christian and he outlines why he took this path after a wide ranging exposure to many religious, spiritual and secular ideas in his youth. Whist I can understand at the intellectual level his decision to be baptised as a Christian, I find myself disappointed that he did. I’m perfectly willing to admit that this is my bias and prejudice showing through. With that bias fully acknowledged, It has to be said that Obama presents a good case for why secularists should not expect people of faith to park their beliefs at the door. He also points out however that the religious cannot base their argument on recourse to God’s Will or scripture and expect to carry the argument. Arguments in a democracy have to be open and acceptable to all members of the society, whether religious or not. UPDATE: See video below in which Obama talks about this subject. This is much like the text in the book. This book is highly recommended. Either in print or audio book form.
The world will be a shinier place on 5th November 2008 if Barack Obama is the President Elect of the USA.
Colin Powell backs Barack Obama
Another nail in the McCain presidential campaign effort:
US President George W Bush’s first Secretary of State, Colin Powell, has endorsed Democratic election candidate Barack Obama for the White House.
From: BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Colin Powell backs Barack Obama
Conservative Humanist Association
A new Conservative Humanist Association has been formed for atheist and humanist Conservatives. That’d include me then 🙂 Just renewed my membership of the Conservative Party by joining the Northern Ireland Conservatives. If you want to see normal UK politics operating in Northern Ireland, and if you have Conservative leanings, then join up. If you don’t have conservative leanings then join on of the other UK wide parties NI sections.
‘Alaska Women Reject Palin’ Rally is HUGE!
From the Mudflats Blog in Alaska. Heartening news of an anti Palin rally in Anchorage. Quote from the site:
Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn’t honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn’t happen here.
[From ‘Alaska Women Reject Palin’ Rally is HUGE! « Mudflats]
Tip of the hat to Gia via Twitter.