When I first started reading this blog, I was staunchly in favour of the death penalty. Since then, my views have changed somewhat, and I wanted to briefly explain why. Firstly, I have a lot of sympathy for the death penalty’s proponents, especially if they, or their loved ones, have been victims of a horrific …
“In Sweden, they call it allemansrätt,” says Ken Ilgunas. In Finland, it’s jokamiehenoikeus; in Scotland, “the right to roam”. In these countries, you’re free to walk almost anywhere you want. Not so in America. In rural areas of the US you see “no trespassing” signs everywhere. It wasn’t always thus. When the US began, everyone …
The UK Crown Prosecution Service announced recently that online hate crimes are to be treated just as seriously as crimes committed face-to-face. It’s a crazy idea, says Clare Foges in The Times. For an offence to be classed as a hate crime, it is necessary only that the victim or someone else perceives it as …
Continue reading ‘Is it really worth policing hate diatribes on the internet?’ »
Here in the English speaking world, we’re all familiar of the tale of the city mouse and the country mouse: the city mouse invites the country mouse to his house. While containing riches beyond the country’s mouse’s dreams, it also contains terrifying dangers, like the cat. In the end, the country mouse decides his own …
Continue reading ‘City vs Country- an Epicurean perspective’ »
The banks want to scrap cash, something which would hand yet more power to the financial sector. Cash costs the banks a lot of money. Simply counting and moving it is expensive. But they must not be allowed to phiase out cash – they are there to serve us, not us them. If the banks …
