http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ en-us tdaw@cix.co.uk 2012-02-10T20:44:01+00:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010232.html 10232@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ The Englishman 2 2012-02-10T20:44:01+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010231.html Armed police called to Glasgow restaurant Police negotiators attend scene after man reported to be acting suspiciously I presume he asked for a salad...... 10231@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ nanny 3 2012-02-10T20:42:18+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010230.html BBC News - US tribe sues beer makers for $500m over alcohol abuse An American-Indian tribe in South Dakota has sued some of the world's biggest beer firms over severe alcohol-related issues in the community. The lawsuit also names the nearby town of Whiteclay, Nebraska, which has four beer shops that sold nearly five million beer cans in 2010 despite having only about a dozen residents. Alcohol is outlawed on the reservation.... Nebraska State Senator LeRoy Louden has said that after struggling with the problem for years, the state has introduced legislation that would impose restrictions - on the types of alcohol that can be sold and business hours. So alcohol is banned already and the solution is further restrictions? How about someone manning up and taking responsibility for their own actions instead of playing the victim card?... 10230@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ Health and Safety 6 2012-02-10T06:20:52+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010229.html World's biggest offshore wind farm opens off Britain as new minister admits high cost - Telegraph Mr Davey, who replaced Lib Dem colleague Chris Huhne, admitted that the cost of offshore wind at the moment is high but insisted it will come down with the right support, just as North Sea oil became cheaper as the industry developed. In the long run he said that offshore wind will provide a low cost form of energy in comparison to fossil fuels as well as providing jobs and perhaps even an export market for the UK. “This is an industry at an early stage. It is not surprising costs are high,” he said. “But if we can help development and support this industry at an early stage that will help the costs to come down.” I have got this bridge for sale, I wonder if he would be interested.... 10229@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ Greenery 4 2012-02-10T06:11:09+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010228.html Hugh McLachlan: No taste for drink policy - Cartoon - Scotsman.com The UK Government and the Scottish Government are both concerned about the amount of alcohol that is consumed in these isles. It is not clear that they should be. The policies which they have adopted and which they propose are inappropriate. They do not cohere well with any plausible notion of what a proper relationship between a state and its citizens should be. They appear arbitrary, whimsical and paternalistic. Governments have a legitimate role in passing laws regarding the production, sale and consumption of alcohol. However, governments in general often pass very bad laws regarding alcohol. Such laws often have unintended consequences. The instance of prohibition in the US is one of the best examples of a policy that had disastrous consequences. David Cameron, Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond are united in supporting the dubious policy of minimum pricing with regard to alcohol. It might or might not turn out that such a policy would have good effects and no bad ones. However, public policies cannot always be justified merely in terms of their outcomes. It matters why things come about. It matters what is done, why it is done and how it is done. ...... The state ought to treat citizens impartially as autonomous, rational adults. It should not treat them as children or as mere means to their political ends. The actual and proposed policies regarding alcohol consumption are misconceived. • Hugh McLachlan is professor of applied philosophy in the Glasgow School for Business and Society at Glasgow Caledonian University... 10228@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ nanny 3 2012-02-10T06:02:03+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010227.html Stanislaw Ulam once challenged Paul Samuelson to name one theory in all of the social sciences which is both true and nontrivial. Several years later, Samuelson responded with David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage: That it is logically true need not be argued before a mathematician; that is not trivial is attested by the thousands of important and intelligent men who have never been able to grasp the doctrine for themselves or to believe it after it was explained to them Economics Made Simple: How money, trade and markets really work by Dr Madsen Pirie is an excellent primer on the whole field of economics that all those important men should have read. He combines his story telling craft with his deep understanding of economic basics to produce a very readable and enjoyable short book on a subject most people would run screaming from. It's brevity and simplicity might annoy the expert, and the purveyors of economic insights who are paid by the word and maintain their mystique with obscurity, but that is its real value. I wish for instance that Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage was dealt with a bit more deeply as everyday we see politicians ans campaigners clamouring for some protectionist measure without anyone pointing a finger at them and laughing at their ignorance. He has released a series of videos http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL06A6035D1EAF3D0E which are based on chapters of the book. Watch them and share them and then I recommend you buy the book. Put aside any preconceived thoughts you have on the subject and enjoy the helicopter view of the whole subject. It may just surprise and educate you, it certainly will be enjoyable. And for anyone who is starting any course at any level on economics this is the key book they must have. It provides a backbone onto which deeper analysis can be hung, and if they don't fit onto it maybe they are better being discarded. Essential enjoyable comprehensive simple guide.... 10227@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ The Englishman 2 2012-02-09T06:25:16+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010226.html The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows | Environment | The Guardian The world's greatest snow-capped peaks, which run in a chain from the Himalayas to Tian Shan on the border of China and Kyrgyzstan, have lost no ice over the last decade, new research shows. The discovery has stunned scientists, who had believed that around 50bn tonnes of meltwater were being shed each year and not being replaced by new snowfall. What's 50bn tonnes between friends.. However, the scientist who led the new work is clear that while greater uncertainty has been discovered in Asia's highest mountains, the melting of ice caps and glaciers around the world remains a serious concern. "Our results and those of everyone else show we are losing a huge amount of water into the oceans every year," said Prof John Wahr of the University of Colorado. "People should be just as worried about the melting of the world's ice as they were before." His team's study, published in the journal Nature, concludes that between 443-629bn tonnes of meltwater overall are added to the world's oceans each year. This is raising sea level by about 1.5mm a year, the team reports, in addition to the 2mm a year caused by expansion of the warming ocean. The scientists are careful to point out that lower-altitude glaciers in the Asian mountain ranges – sometimes dubbed the "third pole" – are definitely melting. Satellite images and reports confirm this. But over the study period from 2003-10 enough ice was added to the peaks to compensate. It really, really is melting, just it is also snowing, but it is melting so keep sending the cheques, please.... 10226@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ Greenery 4 2012-02-08T22:17:18+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010225.html Alcoholic drinks to get weaker, says minister - Telegraph Alcoholic drinks should be made weaker under in Britain under Government plans to tackle the "deadly problem” of binge-drinking, a health minister has said. (Great version - do listen to the video, just ignore the pictures) Chorus: I am the man, the very fat man, That waters the workers' beer I am the man, the very fat man, That waters the workers' beer And what do I care if it makes them ill, If it makes them terribly queer I've a car, a yacht, and an aeroplane, And I waters the workers' beer Verses: Now when I waters the workers' beer, I puts in strychnine Some methylated spirits, And a can of kerosine Ah, but such a brew so terribly strong, It would make them terribly queer So I reaches my hand for the watering-can And I waters the workers' beer Now a drop of good beer is good for a man When he's tired, thirsty and 'ot And I sometimes have a drop myself, From a very special pot For a strong and healthy working class Is the thing that I most fear So I reaches my hand for the watering-can And I waters the workers' beer Now ladies fair, beyond compare, Be you maiden or wife Spare a thought for such a man Who leads such a lonely life For the water rates are terribly high, And the meths is terribly dear And there isn't the profit there used to be In watering the workers' beer... 10225@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ Health and Safety 6 2012-02-08T09:45:35+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010224.html Hundreds of millions ‘leaking out’ of Scotland - Politics - Scotsman.com HUNDREDS of millions of pounds are “leaking out” of the Scottish economy, with contracts for major building and infrastructure projects being handed to firms outside Scotland, a new report has claimed. The stark warning is made today in the first report from the Jimmy Reid Foundation – a think-tank launched in memory of the former trade union leader. The report – Using Our Buying Power to Benefit Scotland – by leading economists Jim and Margaret Cuthbert, said that “too much” of the £9 billion spent each year on procurement projects was allowed to leave the Scottish economy, with a “harmful” effect on jobs and business north of the Border. I wonder what that other Scottish economist Adam Smith would have said about it. Dr Madsen Pirie probably has an idea...... 10224@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ The World 3 2012-02-07T06:40:00+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010223.html The right's stupidity spreads, enabled by a too-polite left | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian ...we have been too polite to mention the Canadian study published last month in the journal Psychological Science, which revealed that people with conservative beliefs are likely to be of low intelligence. The paper proposes that right-wing ideologies, which are socially conservative and authoritarian, represent a mechanism through which cognitive ability is linked with prejudice. So surprise, surprise, social conservatives who don't like darkies, queers, and foreign food and only make love with the lights out are a bit less adventurous and free thinking than social progressives. Monboit makes the mistake of still believing in the old one-dimensional categories of 'right' and 'left', established for the seating arrangement of the French National Assembly of 1789. He needs to update his views a little and move to a multi-dimensional view of the world. The underlying theory of the Political Compass is that political views may be better measured along two separate and independent axes.[2] The Economic (Left-Right) axis measures one's opinion of how the economy should be run: "left" is defined as the view that the economy should be run by a cooperative collective agency (which can mean the state, but can also mean a network of communes), while "right" is defined as the view that the economy should be left to the devices of competing individuals and organisations. The other axis (Authoritarian-Libertarian) measures one's political opinions in a social sense, regarding a view of the appropriate amount of personal freedom: "libertarianism" is defined as the belief that personal freedom should be maximised, while "authoritarianism" is defined as the belief that authority and tradition should be obeyed.... 10223@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ UK Politics 6 2012-02-07T06:30:31+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010222.html The Queen released a statement today to mark her accession to the throne on February 6th 1952. Today, as I mark 60 years as your Queen, I am writing to thank you for the wonderful support and encouragement that you have given to me and Prince Philip over these years and to tell you how deeply moved we have been to receive so many kind messages about the Diamond Jubilee. In this special year, as I dedicate myself anew to your service, I hope we will all be reminded of the power of togetherness and the convening strength of family, friendship and good neighbourliness, examples of which I have been fortunate to see throughout my reign and which my family and I look forward to seeing in many forms as we travel throughout the United Kingdom and the wider Commonwealth. I hope also that this Jubilee year will be a time to give thanks for the great advances that have been made since 1952 and to look forward to the future with clear head and warm heart as we join together in our celebrations. I send my sincere good wishes to you all. ELIZABETH R.... 10222@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ England 4 2012-02-06T06:42:21+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010221.html Not to be sneezed at: the etiquette of throwing a sickie - Scotsman.com (Today) is National Sickie Day, the point in every year where the country's enthusiasm for putting in a hard day'€™s graft reaches rock bottom and 375,000 workers stay at home at a cost of around £30 million to the economy. Some will, of course, be genuinely ill. Colds and flu are rampant at the moment. But many more will be exploiting the sickness epidemic, and their bosses’ gullibility, to gain an extra day off. According to the CBI, the UK economy lost 190 million working days to absence last year, with each employee taking an average of 6.5 days off sick. The total cost to employers was £17 billion, including more than £2.7bn from 30.4 million days of feigned illness. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, British workers take more sick days than workers in the US or Japan, and public sector workers more sick days than their private sector counterparts. A poll of 3,000 employees suggested younger workers were more likely to need time off than their battle-hardened elders, with 72 per cent of under-30s saying they had taken at least one sick day in the previous year compared with 46 per cent of over-55s. The distribution of sick days amongst employees is never a normal distribution bell curve. The vast majority take none or only one or two, and at the other end you will have those who take two a month. You may have your own thoughts as to the causes and solutions to the problem.... 10221@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ Health and Safety 6 2012-02-06T06:40:21+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010220.html Smart keys catch fraudsters | The Sunday Times Insurance investigators and police have revealed they are using data stored on car keys in criminal investigations. Smart ignition keys record the distance travelled by the vehicle on its last journey as well as total mileage. They are being issued by a growing number of car companies — a fact that is not advertised and that most motorists are likely to be unaware of. If an owner maintains that a car involved in an accident had been stolen from them, for example, police or insurers can retrieve the key from the owner and compare the mileage with the odometer to check whether the claim is true. If a driver claims he has no key, insurers may be unwilling to pay out, arguing the alleged theft was down to the owner’s negligence. All this smart technology at work, but who for?... 10220@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ Health and Safety 6 2012-02-05T09:05:10+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010219.html Sunday Times: Why Has It Warmed So Much Less Than The IPCC Predicted? ... Is it really true that global temperatures have not risen since 1997?... A third and very different data set is overseen by John Christy, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He gathers figures from three satellites that orbit the Earth 14 times a day. They measure the average temperature of the air from ground level to a height of 35,000ft, a method completely different from those of the Met Office and NCDC. Oddly, given his reputation as a climate sceptic, he found the biggest rise of all. “From 1997-2011 our data show a global temperature rise of 0.15C,” he said. “What’s more, our satellites have been taking this data since 1979, and over that period [the] global temperature has risen 0.46C, so the world has been getting warmer.” Oddly, given his reputation as a climate sceptic, he found the biggest rise of all. Why "oddly"? Does Jonathan Leake expect sceptics not to present what they find if it is inconvenient?... 10219@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ Greenery 4 2012-02-05T07:00:17+00:00 http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/archives/010218.html Vicky Pryce - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Born in Athens Vasiliki Courmouzis, 1952,married an LSE academic with the surname of Pryce, whom she divorced in 1981, having had two daughters together. Pryce is now separated from Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh and former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change;[8] the couple are in the process of divorcing.[2] They married in 1984, and had three children together. How will she plead is the question. Could Huhne survive a guilty plea from her, could he portray that as just the fury of a woman scorned? I haven't heard any public declaration of innocence from her, though that doesn't mean she isn't and won't plea that way.... 10218@http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com/ UK Politics 6 2012-02-04T06:55:12+00:00