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According to our good friend Iain Murray, the Russians have really put the boot to cherished theories at the World Climate Conference. According to Iain, the head of the Russian Academy of Scientists said the only effect of dropping Kyoto “would be on several thousand people who make a living attending conferences on global warming”. October 3rd, 2003 | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)
 The time has come for the government to take firm action.
This must never be allowed to happen again. How many more lives are going to be sacrificed to the cowboy, wild-west gun culture that has gripped this country? How many more families are going to be destroyed? When is this government going to do something to make our streets safe again? We must get guns out of private hands. All handguns and automatic weapons must be banned completely. We must have strict laws against possessing these kind of deadly weapons backed up by draconian sentences. If it saves even one life its worth it. Enough is enough. Britain needs gun control now! Update: I have just been advised by my eagle-eyed team of researchers that, in fact, Britain has the strictest anti-gun laws in the developed world and that handguns and automatic weapons were banned years ago! I told them that this cannot possibly be true but they assure me that it is. Well, back to the drawing-board to find a new campaign. Any suggestions? October 3rd, 2003 | 63 comments - (Comments are closed)
It is perhaps only a matter of weeks now before the Chinese become the third government with proven manned orbital capabilities. This article by Len David (with quotes from sci.space alumnus Jon McDowell) summarizes their current status. It also contains a discussion of the Chinese government’s plans for going beyond LEO (Low Earth Orbit). October 3rd, 2003 | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)
Poverty is a miracle, created by governments October 3rd, 2003 | 16 comments - (Comments are closed)
One of my favourite films, when I was growing up, was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, that strange children’s classic written by James Bond creator, Ian Fleming. Every Christmas it came on the telly some teatime or other, which my memory recalls as being just after that year’s screening of The Great Escape, another all-time classic, or just before an omnibus edition of that year’s Doctor Who series. Anyway, enough of nostalgia. The most disturbing character in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was the ski-slope nosed Child Catcher. He was nearly as bad as a Sea Devil for pure evil intent, rounding up children on behalf of a child-hating Baroness. And now, in this wonderful sceptred isle of Tony Blair’s modern Britain, we have an equivalent, the school truancy protection officer. Not content with taking over private charity schools and ideologically convincing the majority of the docile British population that the one-size-fits-all state propaganda farms, also known as comprehensive schools, are far better than any alternative, the do-gooders just can’t rest. Because, God forbid, children aren’t willingly attending these educational swamps, despite being able to get an A-grade Mathematics exam pass for knowing how many beans there are in a ten-bean bag. And what’s worse, their parents are often ‘colluding’ with them, by helping them with their truancy. Those nasty people! And apparently this is not good enough for ‘Society’, so we’re going to have slap £100 pound on-the-spot fines onto these sadistic child-destructive malcontents. → Continue reading: Revenge of the Child Catcher October 3rd, 2003 | 35 comments - (Comments are closed)
I am glad to see that the august publishing house, the Oxford University Press, has recently published a monster-length encyclopaedia of the Enlightenment. For those who can stump up more than three hundred pounds, this would be a most impressive addition to any library. From David Hume to Diderot, the book is a treasure trove of facts and articles about the folk who helped shape our world and mostly for the better. Let’s hope university libraries stock this book as essential item since it is bound to be beyond the financial means of most undergraduates. And perhaps the OEP could make a gesture of sending a few copies to the nascent academies I trust will be springing up in post-Saddam Iraq. October 2nd, 2003 | 6 comments - (Comments are closed)
We’ve warned before about the dangers of functionality creep with Identity Cards. Now it appears that Big Blunkett is actively seeking such extended functionality in order to force compulsory National Identity Cards on innocent UK citizens.
How long before that “choice” ceases to become a choice and is instead mandatory? Cross-posted from The Chestnut Tree Cafe. Why not join the mailing list? October 2nd, 2003 | 3 comments - (Comments are closed)
Today’s New York Times has a useful piece comparing and contrasting the legally enforced privacy (and unprivacy) implications of various different kinds of cable TV, internet use, etc. What are the powers of the IRS? What are the legal rights of the music industry as they go after music piracy? That kind of thing. If that’s what you want, go here. October 2nd, 2003 | Comments are closed
Australia is often held up as an example of a country where the threat of Big Brother was beaten off once and for all. Now it looks likely to re-emerge. ABC reports Steven Fitzgerald, General Manager of Operations from the Sydney Airport Corporation, giving evidence to the Committee into Aviation Security. The Committee was critical of Sydney airport’s own security record and questioning Fitzgerald about plans to tighten up. Fitzgerald admitted he had discussed the idea of a national passenger profiling database with the Federal Government. The last few lines of the transcript are of relevance to British readers and others in Commonwealth countries:
“Confidential”. Or “secret”, depending on how much you trust the people involved. October 2nd, 2003 | One comment - (Comments are closed)
For some people, Africa is the conscience of the world. For others, its a land of milk and honey:
Those ‘human rights activists’ are just concerned, caring people who are fighting for social justice and a better world. October 2nd, 2003 | 23 comments - (Comments are closed)
Alex Singleton over on the Adam Smith Institute blog does not think much of the cinematic renditions of Lord of the Rings and asks:
Well it takes all tastes but I for one enjoyed both Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers thoroughly and disagree with almost every word of Alex’s critique. The dialogue was true to the story, the battles gripping and best of all for me, the characters were almost exactly what I had in my head for over 30 years since I first read the books. In fact I think the films cut out a lot of the ‘flabby bits’ in Tolkein’s epic (such as editing out the completely superfluous Tom Bomberdil interlude) without doing a great violence to the substance of it. Although as you may have gathered, I have long been a great fan of Tolkein’s works, the Lord of the Rings has always held deeper meanings for me and the big screen versions have just reinforced my views as to what it all really means. I eagerly await the third part later this year.  October 1st, 2003 | 32 comments - (Comments are closed)
The Scotsman reports:
Andy Ronnie, one of the coordinators of the scheme at Aberdeen City Council, has sought to reassure teenagers, denying claims that the scheme is part of an ID card plan.
The scheme has split the local council amid worries over civil liberties. Liberal Democrat councillor Millicent McLeod, said:
However, Labour councillor George Urquhart said:
And what if you are not ‘ordinary’? October 1st, 2003 | Comments are closed
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