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oldsaxon

Listed below are comments made by oldsaxon between Saturday, 23rd August 2008 and Tuesday, 20th October 2009.

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'Positive action', not 'positive discrimination' 3:56pm on 20 Oct 2009 "Positive action instead of positive discrimination" is a good idea - but this isn't it.

Positive action would mean scouring the Conservatives' Membership for new potential (female) candidates; running a campaign targeted at women to get them interested in applying in the first place; and offering a 'fast-track' route for women to shadow MPs, gain experience etc so they'd be ready for the job.

There are loads of things that all 3 parties should have been doing for years - because these aren't quick-fix measures - to make women more interested and more quickly qualified for the job. That would be positive action. This *is* discrimination - but I guess if you leave things till the last minute, then that's the best you can do.
Charging for online news 7:52pm on 06 Aug 2009 It's easy to be reactionary here, but I think this is a real problem. A 'free press,' as disgusting as it sometimes becomes, is a point of pride for a Western Democracy - we need to encourage diversity here and the Observer's problems trouble me just as much as ITV's.

On the other hand, the BBC is an excellent institution and the envy of many. We shouldn't forget that - more than the money - it's successful because it's a high-quality service. No quick fix? Perhaps all well-read media outlets should receive a cut of a remade license fee.
Map of the Week: Why Costa Rica is the happiest place 08:45am on 04 Jul 2009 I think it's definitely an interesting - and valuable - take, but I don't like the way sustainability is handled. If what's important right now are life expectancy and satisfaction, then those are the things we want to be sustainable. So perhaps a true measure of sustainability ought to take into account factors such as

Sustainability of demographics (e.g. emmigration, aging population)
Sustainability of economy, wealth & public services
Stability of government
Prospect of peace
Environmental risk (e.g. Bangladesh is at risk of floods)
Environmental recklessness (this is the measure used already).

Still, the more different viewpoints we have on success, the better, so this is interesting to see.
The strange case of Macau, the tax haven that disappeared 2:52pm on 03 Apr 2009 I don't know a thing about Delaware's tax policies but let's say it really was a tax haven.

Well, in that case the USA would be on the white list for the same reason that China is.
World leaders: Cheap at the price? 5:13pm on 02 Apr 2009 Sometimes even looking at flawed data is instructive. In this case, I feel the abscense of perks/allowances is just too crucial to draw anything other than obvious conclusions - sorry.

As for performance-related pay, I'm against it here. Politicians already have enough incentive to put the short term above the long term. Let's not give them another.

Now if there was a way of rewarding long-term performance I'd be all for it - and the banking, management and education industries might be interested in hearing more.
Bringing it all back home? 4:52pm on 02 Apr 2009 It's just possible that Brown & co are actually happy with that - that this week they've had a chance to do something good and they've gone ahead with it, whether it grabs votes or not.

We all know politicians are partisan and can act out of self- or party-interest. It's worth remembering that those same people are patriots and do act out of genuine charity as well.

Will he get my vote? Probably not. Does he get my admiration? Yes. I welcome good news, and good behaviour.
Benitez relishes vital victory 6:03pm on 02 Feb 2009 I really think Scolari is more at fault than you're saying.

A huge part of a manager's job is to get the best out of his players, and the likes of Ferguson or Mourinho - the kind of manager Chelsea thought they were getting - do that week in and week out. Just look how long Giggs and Scholes have gone on playing!

Scolari cannot lift or motivate large sections of his team, and *that* is why they look past it - not their ages.
EU spending gripes 5:59pm on 11 Nov 2008 You would think that with £8m at stake, proper training and guidance would have been given to those people who didn't keep the paperwork...

If the EU is going to impose these rules harshly (and it should), then the EU should also ensure that everybody has a very clear idea of what's required of them. Mistakes like this should not be common.
YouTube, Cat Stevens and me 10:20pm on 19 Sep 2008 So - what if you now go tell Youtube that there's a video infringing *your* copyright, and you want to be able to share in the advertising revenue?

Perhaps you really can share the revenue from the videos you make... if you first become a YouTube 'partner,' and then submit a claim against your own creations for copyright infringement.
Is it time for a really modern pentathlon? 2:13pm on 23 Aug 2008 All the sports in MP are accessible - just join a fencing club (check your nearest city), a rowing club (there are hundreds around), an athletics club, your nearest swimming pool or the local stable.

Any one of those sports is within reach of the 'man on the street'. Any one can be enjoyed, with decent facilities, without too much trouble if you want to give it a go. All of them have a decent talent pool.

The problem - I agree with Matt - is putting it all together. Who on earth has the time, let alone the money, to participate in all five? You can't watch MP on the TV and say, "I'm going to try that..." unlike Decathalon or Triathalon.

If you can't watch, be impressed, and try for yourself then I think there's a serious problem. Can you name *any other* Olympic sport where trying it yourself requires more than finding a local club and signing up?

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