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nedafo

Listed below are comments made by nedafo between Friday, 23rd October 2009 and Wednesday, 28th October 2009.

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Tuesday 27 October 2009 2:55pm on 28 Oct 2009 # 50 thegangofone - isn't a problem with carbon trading that it is the creation of yet another artificial asset that can be traded by the bankers? Was it the only or best way to achive the end?

I'm loathe to enter into the racism debate but I am concerned that I may be considered racist by many because, given the choice of continuing to live where I live in the UK and moving abroad then, assuming I would have the same economic opportunity and standard of living, I would choose to live here. Given a number of choices, I could also rank my preferences. Would you do likewise?
Why them and not us? 5:09pm on 27 Oct 2009 # 376 nautioner - you have missed one asset class. By my calculations, we only need to find 10,000 Ronaldos and sell them to Real Madrid to clear the debt. Easy. We should be investing in fotball scouts; Wenger should be made chancellor.
Monday 26 October 2009 2:50pm on 27 Oct 2009 A couple of interesting points came out of the C4 race and intelligence programme last night. Firstly, there was an acceptance that inelligence is genetic based on the identical twin research. Forgetting the race and intelligence issue, does this mean the science supports that the potential for "dumbing down" if the correct conditions exist. Secondly, the programme indictated that SATS are not an indictaion of intelligence but merely a function of education (this is what I took from the piecve on using SATS for the admission policy at Berkeley). I had understood (but could be wrong) that SATs are being considered for use in the UK by universities as part of their admissions policies with a view to identifying potential students who have had a "poor eduction experience". I find it hard to reconcile this.
Thursday 22 October 2009 1:45pm on 23 Oct 2009 # 95, thegangofone - my comments are genuine. I'm being serious in my reference to the JJ's links. I know the Irwing's research and the Bell Curve stuff is controversial but I have an open mind on a lot of this stuff because (a) I'm not an expert on this; and (b) I'm always sceptical of the motives of the experts (both the people who carry out the research AND those who criticise it). It is all beyond my sphere of understanding. However, I can observe with my own eyes that there are differences between men and women both physically and and also in relation to their mental attributes - most of these are generally accepted (men tend to be physically stronger, women tend to make better carers, etc). Many of my observations on the differences between sexes also tend to be consistent with what JJ states (for example, that women have better language skills, men tend be better at certain types of problem solving). Is this genetic or as a result of up-bringing? It seems to me that this is an important question for our society and economy. Therefore, there needs to be more reseach done on this and if this is prevented due to political correctness, then this is bad thing.

One point that JJ has made in the past which does ring very true with meis the explanation of the higher female acheivement in education. I don't have the data but I'm pretty sure that the expansion of university places over the past decade or so has mainly been in the social sciences. Why? My own theory is that it is cheaper to increase the number of spaces in these subjects than in the sciences (for example, if you double the intake of law undergraduates, all you need is a bigger lecture hall - you don't need to build more expensive lab facilities etc for practical teaching). This may be a contributory factor to the increase in female graduates if they are more suited to social sciences. The concern I have is how the increase in social science students will help our economy. I can't help but think that our economy needs more engineers, scienstists etc to be more competitive. Therefore it seems to me that some of the stuff that JJ comments on in relation to the difference between sexes has practical application. If our economy needs more scientists and engineer to generate wealth, and men are better at this than women and it is not a result of upbringing then should we not reflect this in our eduaction policies. Can I emphasis that I don't know if my last proposition is true; what I am however certin of is that the politicians and others should not stop this from being investigated.
Thursday 22 October 2009 12:31pm on 23 Oct 2009 # 89 - it should of course be "hands of the experts" although "nads of the experts" may be more appropriate. I really must start correcting typos before pressing the send key.
Thursday 22 October 2009 12:22pm on 23 Oct 2009 JJ - I've read this link before and also your previous links to the Bell Curve etc. Call me a coward, but for the sake of an easy life, I would tend to avoid showing my wife this kind of stuff for a sake on easy life! I also know that much of this stuff is controversial; I also know what your views are on what the purpose of the controversy is. As I may have mentioned in previous entries, I do not have sufficient knowledge or expertise in this area to form a view and I am in the nads of the experts. What I certainly do agree with you is that if Irwing is correct then this does have significant consequences for education policy and therefore it is a bad thing if political correctness is allowed to stifle/prevent further research in this area (This is thee same political correctness that prevents me from properly engaging on this issue with my wife!)
Thursday 22 October 2009 11:41am on 23 Oct 2009 Wappaho - your reference to cleavage strangely coincides with my post at 21 on SF's blog netry for today. We are apparently approaching the top of the cleavage in economic terms but with another breast of the recession to go! Problem is, I don't know how buxom this recession will be.
First draft of UK economic history 11:37am on 23 Oct 2009 With energy prices on the way back up again, tax rises and public sector cuts ahead, seems that more QE is inevitable. On the lighter side, I heard of an amusing description of the economic outlokk which did not invole letter shapes (v, w etc) for a change. A female banker decsribed the oulook as having the same shape as a pair of breasts. We are apparently on our back up to the top of the cleavage but with another dip to go! Unfortunately, no indication of size was given so I am no wiser of the likely depth of the upcomning second dip!
First draft of UK economic history 11:31am on 23 Oct 2009 Why is the emphasis on the figures being a first draft rather than on the fact that they are much worse than many anticipated? Would there be the same emphasis on the provisional nature of the figures if they showed growth?
Thursday 22 October 2009 11:19am on 23 Oct 2009 Here's a short anecdote related to last night's QT that might get JJ going! I watched some of QT with my wife. Aftwerwards, we were speaking about the BNP/Islamophopia thing. My wife made the comment that what she disliked about Islam was its treatment of women and that she would not want ever to have to wear a burka; then she said that bearing in the eductaional achievements of women relative to men, that I had better watch as I might end up weariong a burka and having to walk two yards behind her (it sounded a bit like the Two Ronnies "Worm that Turned" scenario!). At that point, we got into a debate on equality of the sexes including male/female intelligence (NOT a debating topic conducive to a happy marriage). My wife could not as a matter of principle contemplate that men could, on average, be more intelligent then women. However, when I asked her if it was possible that women could be more intelligent than men, there was a long pause! Clearly, the equality debate in this country has a bit to go. Is there a parallel with the racial equality debate?

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