Rough Notes: Social Lending, Codebreakers & KateModern

Comments

1. At 05:26 PM on 13 Nov 2007, David wrote:

   If you *are* going to cover the Weblog awards (in my opinion giving in to American ethnocentrism and conservatism, but that's your decision), did you see the way competition erupted for the Best Science Blog award between 'scientists', who lined up behind Bad Astronomy (endorsed by Pharyngula) and 'sceptics', who lined up behind Climate Audit (endorsed by the egregious Junk Science)? In effect, a vote on the credibility of the science behind global warming.

   Declared a tie in the end, which to my mind indicates they found cheating (ie people with access to many computers using them to cast multuiple votes) on both sides. It really looked very close in the closing stages.

2. At 11:58 PM on 14 Nov 2007, Emma Kelty wrote:

   Dear Sir,

   I would like to raise conversations about the current education system especially concerned with special schools and children with SEN. This is an issue within the education system whereby statements are being reduced in conjuntion with the lack of funding!

   I feel that special schools are undervalued and that they have a purposful role within the future of the education system/ the education system that I will be working within for the next 20 or so years! As such I do not want to work within someones elses vision (who will be my past) but of course the furtures vision! I would therefore like to air and discuss my views and vision. I believe that within the next few years the education system will deterioate and this will impact the long term stability of the education system/ and beyond.

   I was recently watching the teachers tv with Estelle Morris and Mary Warnock and I would like to discuss what they were saying from believer and valuer of both special schools and appropriate inclusion.

   I would like to put forward my backround and thus who can talk about these issues - as someone who was born into the current climate, technology and legislation.

   I have worked within a variety of settings from mainstream, unit attached to mainstream and special school. I have experience of both private and mainstream education systems. Wtihin this range I have worked with children from pre school to GSCE level.

   I hope that you will raise this issue again using the future generation as the visioners of the future of the education system/ workers of the educations system of the next 20 years or so.

   Kind regards
   Emma Kelty

3. At 05:13 PM on 16 Nov 2007, Richard wrote:

   Now that retired soviet sailor Eduard Koltsov has admitted that he killed Commander (Buster) Crabb in 1956, (see BBC News today), can we expect the British authorities to seek his extradition from Russia so that he can be charged with murder and subjected to a trial in the UK.

   I suspect we won't, but after the Litvinenko affair, and the refusal of Russia to extradite Andrei Lugovoi as a suspect, this clear cut admission deserves no less.

   As an impressionable child of 10 at the time, I particularly remember this story, with its intrigue and cold war spying back drop.

4. At 07:00 PM on 16 Nov 2007, Thomas Paine wrote:

   Good to see the subject of money being looked at , if not tackled.
   You should get stuck in because it's a dirty old game.
   Money. It's always in the news.
   Why is it so expensive?
   Why does government borrow money from private banks at interest when government; i.e the people, have the right to create it themselves interest-free?

5. At 02:38 PM on 17 Nov 2007, John Leigh wrote:

   Is global warming real. see the facebook topic

   If it is real then Governmenst are goind to have to make unpopular decisions. This makes them fearful I suspect, of not getting re elected.so they won't make the big decisions. So where do we go from here

6. At 02:56 PM on 17 Nov 2007, Trevor Cusack wrote:

   I have a story for you, but it's one that you'll never feature. It's the story of the PC takeover of the BBC (or how the BBC became the broadcasting arm of the Guardian newspaper).
   All of your political programmes peddle PC propaganda, driving a coach and horses through your Charter obligations of political impartiality. The non-PC views of ordinary people are systematically excluded.
   For evidence, just look at your approach to public participation (giving airtime to ordinary people). You're terrified of it. On the whole of R4, there is only half an hour a week of public access (Any Answers). Your new iPM (which is mostly non-political) has increased that by a glorious 25 minutes a week.Wow!
   Be careful. This 25 minutes could be the thin end of the wedge. It might lead to democracy in the BBC, which might in turn lead to the even greater horror of democracy in Britain.
   I suggest that you stop this dangerous experiment now. Put the listeners back in their place. Remind them that their role is just to pay your poll tax and listen to your PC opinions. Act now, before they get ideas above their station!

7. At 04:04 PM on 17 Nov 2007, Jimmy wrote:

   I would like to comment on the amount of work place bullying that occurs in the voluntary sector.
   The UK has many voluntary organisations that are funded via tax payers and donations yet there seems to be a high proportion of work place bullying in this sector. There are even reports of people suffering suicidal ideology due to stress placed on them by managers and colleagues. It is estimated that 1 in 5 people in the work force suffer from some form of bullying during their working life. People who choose to work in the voluntary sector usually have a dedication that goes beyond the cause of duty yet this dedication is exploited by managers who have no training in people skills or have failed as managers in other sectors of employment and now seem to be targeting the voluntary sector.

   Does anyone else have any experiences they would like to share?

8. At 04:30 PM on 17 Nov 2007, Chris Shaw wrote:

   I wonder, if like me, there are many people fuming at the way that the government and, more importantly the people, have been taken to the cleaners by the dentists.

   Replies to my enquiries from the Department for Health, the British Dental Association, the British Orthodontists Society, the Secretary of State for Health and the local Primary Care Trust have variously provided contradiction, obfuscation and, worryingly, "Don't blame us!" In the meantime less well-off patients will be doing without important dental work because it is too expensive.

   I'm trying to help out my daughter with this research and if anyone wants my case notes, please get in touch.

9. At 04:39 PM on 17 Nov 2007, Marc Settle wrote:

   Richard @ 3. The Lionel "Buster" Crabb story was covered on PM on Friday, when Eddie Mair spoke to Sydney Knowles who saw alongside Commander Crabb for nearly 15 years. You can hear the interview again if you go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/pm/ and choose Friday's programme. The interview is about half-way through, although you might enjoy listening to the whole show again! It was also covered on Friday's Newsnight on BBC2 - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/default.stm

10. At 11:06 PM on 17 Nov 2007, Diana Lorence wrote:

    What is wrong with Britain today? Why are we not proud of being British? Are the media to blame for not upholding the values of marriage, commitment to one another and the value of hard work but would rather encourage what were once the margins of society into the mainstream.

    Since WW2 the welfare state has spriralled into a dependency culture which was never it's intended purpose. While state education and healthcare give opportunities to millions too much dependency means that we never learn to be responsible for ourselves and others. Perhaps if we all took more personal responsiblity for our lives we would also be proud to be Briitsh.

11. At 12:45 AM on 18 Nov 2007, Angela Benson wrote:

    We hear a lot about how we should act to reduce climate change, but nothing about how we can best cope with the global warming that will occur as a result of carbon emitted over the past twenty years or so. Perhaps we could have scientists on the programme telling us when carbon dioxide in the sea is expected to reach saturation levels and how rapidly global temperature is expected to rise after saturation level is reached. Perhaps we could have discussions about whether it would be a good idea for most new homes to be built with cellars (so that if we have temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius day and night for several weeks in the next few years more people might survive them) and with wire screens at the windows to keep out the tropical insects that are expected to come to our country within the next twenty years, "blue tongue" being perhaps the first tropical disease to arrive. How will our hospitals need to adapt?

12. At 01:48 PM on 18 Nov 2007, C Brady wrote:

    Since Governments are so concerned about the environment, I am left wondering why motor sports have not been banned. I wonder what the carbon print of F1, Speedway, Indie Racing, TT racing etc is? Surely it is common sense to stop them, or are other governments also in the pay of F1?

13. At 12:09 PM on 19 Nov 2007, Chris Shaw wrote:

    I absolutely agree with Angela Benson. There will be many more problems like the ones she mentions.
    Rising fuel costs, rising population, flooding and hurricanes will also add to the misery. Cellars are fine in an area not likely to flood, where houses on stilts might be better! Nevertheless, such creative thinking is a valuable commodity. I'm afraid that worrying about the carbon footprint of Formula One is a very very minor consideration (C Brady)when you take the whole of human activity into account.

14. At 05:14 PM on 19 Nov 2007, Chris Shaw wrote:

    I agree with Angela Benson. Let's think more about how we cope with the heat, rising fuel costs, floods, hurricanes and, above all, rising population. Can we do anything about the population problem before it is cancelled out by the first four problems?

    We need more of this creative thinking (though perhaps not cellars in areas likely to flood, where stilts might be better :)

15. At 06:37 PM on 06 Dec 2007, Penrose wrote:

    Why do atheists bother to celebrate Christmas and what do they call it?

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