Tottenham: bloody good hiding revisited
The last time Tottenham burned, the local Labour Party was quick to takes sides. ‘The police were to blame for what happened,’ announced council leader and later MP Bernie Grant. ‘And what they got was a bloody good hiding’.
By contrast, current Westminster representative David Lammy has been quick to distance himself not only from last night’s disturbances, but from the events of 1985 as well. The comparison between the two stances illustrates just how far Labour has travelled over the last 26 years.
Over the next few days, condemnation will be heard from across the mainstream political spectrum. So it is worth asking such basic questions as ‘why did this happen?’
Does porn reduce violence against women? Evidence says otherwise
contribution by Sian Norris
Research reported last week in The Scientific American claimed that using porn can actually reduce levels of violence against women and girls.
The article explains that the research has found ‘associations’ between porn and sexual violence, arguing that in states where there is low internet access (something which, they suggest, makes it harder to access online porn) there was “a 53 percent increase in rape incidence, whereas the states with the most [internet] access experienced a 27 percent drop in the number of reported rapes, according to a paper published in 2006 by Anthony D’Amato, a law professor at Northwestern University.”
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Astonishing video from Tottenham riot
This is the best video I’ve seen of last night’s riot in Tottenham. (via @NilamAtodaria)
Update
I’ve replaced the above video by one that works as the older one was made private.
Below is another good one video from around 2am (via @Atotherash)
Would police abuse this face-recognition tech if it came here?
Imagine looking at a police officer for 5 seconds and then hearing him say your name.
Police officers in the USA now have technology which can register a person in seconds. BI2, a Massachusetts based company, has just released MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System), enabling a police officer to take an iris scan in seconds and, when attached to an iPhone, take a biometric facial scan with it.
MORIS can then run the image US criminal records. Each MORIS unit costs about $3,000.
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Libdems demand change to employment benefits
The Liberal Democrats are to demand sweeping changes to the much-criticised employment support allowance (ESA), the chief benefit for Britain’s 2.5 million sick and disabled people, providing a potential breakthrough for disability campaigners.
The Lib Dems are expected to back a motion at their annual conference next month calling for fundamental changes to the system, including the work capability assessment (WCA), a test that sick and disabled people are required to take before being deemed eligible for the benefit.
…
The Lib Dem motion, to be proposed by Liberal Youth, will make five key demands at conference:
• A clearer assessment criteria and descriptors, to make it more apparent under what circumstances ESA is paid.
• Greater accuracy in assessment, particularly for those with fluctuating conditions.
• A less stressful assessment process.
• People with disabilities getting the support they need.
• All ESA claimants on appeal to be given access to adequate representation.
The left has a hero worship problem
contribution by Emma Burnell
This week something very frightening happened. My husband was threatened, twice, with hospitalisation by a thug. The “reason”? My husband thought that the sentence given to Jonathan May-Bowles was reasonable given the circumstances and expressed this opinion in a public forum.
Some of my readers may disagree with that. That’s ok, you’re entitled to your opinion.
You are not – absolutely not – entitled to threaten bodily harm to a person simply because they disagree with you.
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Was S&P’s downgrade of US debt justified?
The ratings agency S&P has downgraded US debt, which may shock markets around the world when they open on Monday.
But was the decision justified?
• The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics.
• More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.
• Since then, we have changed our view of the difficulties in bridging the gulf between the political parties over fiscal policy, which makes us pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal consolidation plan that stabilizes the government’s debt dynamics any time soon.
In other words – its more to do with political gridlock in the United States government than the total size of the debt.
The NYT’s Paul Krugman isn’t convinced.
it’s hard to think of anyone less qualified to pass judgment on America than the rating agencies. The people who rated subprime-backed securities are now declaring that they are the judges of fiscal policy? Really?
Just to make it perfect, it turns out that S&P got the math wrong by $2 trillion, and after much discussion conceded the point — then went ahead with the downgrade.
On the other hand, even the Washinton Post’s Ezra Klein thinks S&P is justified, given the Republicans are committed to opposing everything Obama does.
We do have a debt problem. But that hasn’t changed recently. S&P changed our rating due to the debt ceiling debate.
Maybe S&P is justified after all. Though if the markets don’t really react to the news, it would undermine S&P’s credibility, surely?
Why Labour has no need to apologise for ‘fiscal irresponsibility’
“Does Labour need its own tea party?” asks the title of a post by Luke Bozier. I was hoping this would be an argument for some leftists to make extremist arguments, with the intention of shifting the Overton window leftwards.
I was disappointed. Instead, Luke says:
We must begin to admit that we were fiscally irresponsible for years, in order to gain the trust of the public again, at least on the economy. Not only is it important in order to win elections – fiscal responsibility is the right thing to do.
Now, I’m no fan of Gordon Brown. But if there’s one thing he shouldn’t apologize for, it’s “fiscal irresponsibility.”
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It’s holiday season – time for a drink?
contribution by Claire Turner
We’ve all seen the people at the airport at 7am having their pint to get them in the ‘holiday mood’. But what about the broader picture of holiday drinking culture?
Recent research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on family life and alcohol has some interesting findings.
continue reading… »
Stock markets plunge over fears for Italy
Fears for the global economy have intensified further following lacklustre growth from Italy and growing fears of contagion in Europe’s periphery. Here are some graphs from the FT.
Stocks are way down. This does not augur well for growth. The UK’s major trading partners are all in Europe, so our stocks have taken a major hit too.
Investors are also fleeing to safety, interest rates on even sclerotic UK and dysfunctional US government debt are down.
These governments can borrow cheaply than last week or last month, not because they are well run (have you seen George Osborne?), it is because they are less of a basketcase than many others. We’re seeing a flight to safety.
As Duncan highlights, BNY Mellon has recently even started charging people to store money there, so worried are investors.
The Bank of England, Federal Reserve and European Central bank need to act quickly to stem the market’s (and my) panic. They need to reaffirm a commitment to providing liquidity if it is needed and they need to commit to reflating the core Western economies so they can deleverage and expand more easily. I’m getting that 1937/2008 feeling again.
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» The real agenda behind Telegraph’s abortion investigation
» 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
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