Watch: How Berlusconi’s nose broke in assault
Obviously one should never condone the use of violence against anyone, least of all man in his seventies…
But – be honest – given a clear shot, you would… wouldn’t you?
Copenhagen summit does the Hokey Cokey
It looks like its going to one of those days…
The BBC have reported, in the last hour, that negotiations at the Copenhagen summit had been suspended after a walk-out by the African delegation over what they saw as a move by the Danish government to sideline further talks about further emissions cuts under the Kyoto protocol.
However, in the last couple of minutes, Ed Miliband has tweeted that the talks are resuming, albeit only to talk about the process…
“copenhagen talks restart await negotiations over process. Frustrating…” – Ed Miliband, 12:34pm
According to one negotiator, this is just ‘par for the course’ so it appears that talk of the imminent collapse of the summit may well be premature.
The Inconvenient Truth about David Rose’s ‘Special Investigation’
So, at last, the Mail on Sunday has waded into the furore surrounding the hacked CRU emails with a special investigation, bringing out its big guns, David Rose, who is highly regarded as a journalist and has a solid track record in serious reporting and investigations, to write up the story.
For all his well-deserved reputation as a serious journalist, Rose, it must be said, also has previous form for being taken in by sources he believed to be reliable at the time but which then proved to have been feeding him disinformation. In this case the disinformation in question related to alleged links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, which Rose fell for hook, line and sinker. To his credit Rose did eventually come clean and admit to having been duped, expressing his regrets in very strong and, in regards to the role of some of his sources.
The point I’m making here is that even a very good journalist is only ever going to be as good as his sources, and in the case of Rose’s investigation his choice of sources are letting him down very badly indeed.
continue reading… »
You meant well Tony? Of course you did!
Anthony Seldon had an article in the Sindy lamenting how unfair everyone has been to Tony Blair. There’s just not enough sympathy in the world for megalomaniacal twits with a god complex and their finger (formerly) on one of the Big Red Buttons.
Some of what Seldon says is pure comedy gold, such as his comparison of Blair to Gladstone: “For them, moral conviction in foreign policy was core.” One wonders what difference it makes if your foreign policy is still resulting in the deaths of the same foreign people as that of your “immoral” Opposition.
He was dealing with someone who was an evil dictator and that was the right thing to do, in his mind, because what was at stake was world peace. In another sense he has been remarkably consistent and I think is tremendously frustrated at not having the opportunity to say that.
If there is one thing worth pointing out to Professor Seldon, it’s that Mr Blair is very good at re-writing history all by himself, without needing the help of his accomplices in the declaration of war, or the media.
continue reading… »
UK science community statement on climate
Last week the Met Office co-ordinated a huge list of UK scientists to sign up to this statement:
We, members of the UK science community, have the utmost confidence in the observational evidence for global warming and the scientific basis for concluding that it is due primarily to human activities. The evidence and the science are deep and extensive. They come from decades of painstaking and meticulous research, by many thousands of scientists across the world who adhere to the highest levels of professional integrity. That research has been subject to peer review and publication, providing traceability of the evidence and support for the scientific method.
The science of climate change draws on fundamental research from an increasing number of disciplines, many of which are represented here. As professional scientists, from students to senior professors, we uphold the findings of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, which concludes that ‘Warming of the climate system is unequivocal’ and that ‘Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations’.
There’s 120 institutions and over 1700 people represented in the statement
[via Dave Cole]
Protest for justice for Gary McKinnon
A public protest is planned outside the Home Office at noon on Tuesday 15th Dec against the imminent extradition of the Asperger’s UFO-researcher, Gary McKinnon.
Gary is being extradited to the USA, where he will face up to 60 years imprisonment for a crime which, if tried in this country, would very likely not warrant a custodial sentence at all.
The Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, is now trying to rush the extradition through before Christmas, despite the fact that it is grossly disproportionate to the crime, that the crime itself was committed in the UK, that no evidence or admission has been given for the crime he is actually being extradited for (causing computer damage – hacking alone is not an extraditable offence), and that Gary’s actions are mitigated somewhat by the fact that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism.
The eight year pursuit of Gary McKinnon by the US has taken a considerable toll on Gary’s mental health, and he is now suicidal, if not sectionable – as indeed many people would be after living with this level of stress for such a length of time.
In spite of all this, the Home Secretary decided on 27th November, against the recommendations of a Commons Home Affairs Select Committee hearing, not to halt the extradition.
Mr Johnson claims that he does not have any discretion to intervene, unless the extradition would violate Mr McKinnon’s Human Rights. However, it is widely considered, by all accounts bar his own – including by Shami Chakrabati of Liberty, by the Select Committee, by Mr Johnson’s own legal adviser, and by a number of eminent barristers from Cherie Blair’s Matrix chambers – that as Home Secretary he does indeed have wider discretion to halt the extradition.
Why Mr Johnson has appeared to deny and diminish the extent of his discretion to intervene in this case is not entirely clear.
This case is a matter of considerable public interest, because it relates to the extradition treaty between the US and UK, which David Blunkett bafflingly agreed to in 2003. This treaty was signed under Queen’s Prerogative, without Parliament having seen the wording. Though Alan Johnson denies it – for reasons best known to himself – the treaty is widely agreed to be grossly one-sided in favour of the US.
This treaty and the McKinnon extradition are denounced by both Liberty, and by the American Civil Liberties Union.
From a press release
How the Times distorted opinion on global warming poll
contribution by Climate Sock
A few weeks ago The Times ran a story claiming a Times/Populus poll had found that only 41% of Britons think that global warming is man-made. Clearly I’d missed something dramatic that had brought about such a radical change in how people see climate change (and this was before any UEA emails came out).
Bear in mind that the sort of numbers we’re used to seeing on this question are between 80-90% thinking that climate change/global warming is at least partly man-made (see for example MORI’s Tipping Point report). A drop of this magnitude sounded pretty fishy to me.
Populus, very helpfully, provide a full break-down of the results on their website. If you have a look through the questions, there isn’t much controversial about the structure of the poll: it seems quite fairly set out, rather than having been rigged to lead respondents to answer one way or the other.
So if the poll itself is fine, what about the results? Here’s my own summary of the bit about perceptions of climate change/global warming:
- Around 5 in 6 believe that climate change and global warming are taking place;
- Only 23% disbelieve anthropogenic climate change;
- Nearly 4 in 5 think that climate change is either very serious or the most serious problem we face.
This hardly matches the media reporting of the poll.
continue reading… »
Watch: Peer calls Jewish activists ‘Hitler Youth’
Former Conservative peer Lord Monckton, launched a tirade against young climate change activists, comparing them to Hitler Youth even when told he was talking to a Jewish activist.
A part of the exchange went like this:
Mr. Wessel: First of all my name is Ben.
Lord Monckton: No, I’m not going to shake the hand of Hitler Youth. I’m sorry.
Mr. Wessel: Sir, as a Jew I’m not really sure how I should take that.
Lord Monckton: I’ll tell you how you should take it. You should take it… as it is meant.
Mr. Wessel: My grandparents escaped the Nazis growing up in Germany.
Lord Monckton: Because of the biofuel scam, world food prices have doubled. That is because of the global warming scare, which you won’t look at the science of. And as a result of that, millions are dying in third world countries because food prices have doubled because of the biofuel scam, because of the global warming scare. Not because there’s been any global warming.
And you people don’t care. And until you start caring, I will call you Hitler Youth if you ever again interrupt any meeting at which I am present, where we are trying to have a private conversation.
Watch the full video
[via Left Foot Forward]
Cleaners worth more to society than bankers
As City bankers plan how to spend their generous Christmas bonuses, a report from nef (the new economics foundation) published today, Monday 14 December 2009, unveils a new method for calculating the true value to society of different jobs.
A Bit Rich? Calculating the Real Value to Society of Different Professions questions whether pay reflects the true value of different jobs and shatters some of the myths used to justify high pay.
Controversy over bankers’ bonuses raises fundamental questions, not just about the pay of senior executives, but also about the relative value of everyone’s work in society.
For each activity, the analysis measures the conventional economic returns, including job creation, but adds in, for example, attributable environmental degradation, and changes in well-being – either positive or negative – to individuals and communities in wider society.
The research reveals that overall:
· Elite City bankers (earning £1 million-plus bonuses) destroy £7 of value for every £1 they create.
· Hospital cleaners create over £10 in value for every £1 they receive in pay.
· Advertising executives destroy £11 of value for every £1 created.
· Child care workers generate between £7 and £9.50 for every £1 they are paid.
· Tax accountants destroy £47 for every £1 they create.
· Waste recycling workers generate £12 for every £1 spent on their wages.
Eilís Lawlor at nef said: “This report is not about targeting individuals in highly paid jobs. Neither is it simply suggesting that people in low-paid jobs should be paid more. The point we are making is more fundamental – that there should be a relationship between what we are paid and the value our work generates for society. We’ve found a way to calculate that.”
In particular, the report challenges the claim that high pay does not matter so long as poverty is eradicated.
High pay comes on the back of extraordinary profits, made possible because companies do not have to pay the full costs of their activities. Some of the costs of production may be hard to see, such as greenhouse gas emissions or the impacts of sweated labour, but someone is bearing them now – or in the future.
A Bit Rich suggests that until the prices of goods and services reflects the true costs of their production, incentives will be misaligned. This means damaging activities will be relatively cheap and profitable, whilst positive activities will be discouraged.
———
1. Calculations contained in the report were performed using some of the principles of Social Return on Investment (SROI) an analytic tool for measuring and accounting for a much broader concept of value. It incorporates social, environmental and economic costs and benefits into decision making, providing a fuller picture of how value is created or destroyed. For more information visit this page.
2. Examples of factors considered in the calculations
For City Bankers
We calculated the value created or destroyed by elite investment bankers earning more than £500,000 – and specifically those commanding £1 million-plus bonuses. Factors in calculating the value they created included the average annual contribution of the City of London to UK economic activity; tax contributions to the Exchequer and jobs provided in the wholesale finance sector. Against that were weighed the cost of the current financial crisis – triggered by the risky activities of bankers – in terms of loss to UK gross domestic product and economic capacity; and the cost of the crisis in terms of the negative impact on public finance. The model balanced the value destroyed in the crash with the value created during a 20-year indicative career.
For hospital cleaners
There are some 27,000 hospital cleaners in the UK, earning on average just over £6 an hour. Our baseline measure was the prevention of the spread of hospital-acquired infections. Factors included the number of infections cleaners are estimated to prevent each year, the savings to the NHS, estimates of the number and value of lives saved through prevented infections and of the wider contribution cleaners make to overall patient care and the effective running of hospitals.
From a press release
Afghanistan: lions and donkeys
It is things like this which I wrote about here that make me less convinced about what people say at meetings like this and drives me to despair when this happens.
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» How Scotland Yard monitors prying bloggers and journalists
» When disabled people want to work – employers can hold the back
» Revealed: the reality behind Workfare and why it doesn’t work
» Job snob? No, I’ve got the T-shirt
» Why country-by-country reporting matters to our wellbeing
» If Unions want to become stronger, they need to modernise
» Why work “reforms” in Spain are a warning for workers across Europe
» Five things you need to know about the NHS bill
» Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier. More Racist.
» Laziness levels in Britain getting lazier, wails government
» Five reasons why Germany is also to blame for the Euro-crisis
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