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Thursday 21 March 2013

Israel and Palestine

Isn't it sad that people can't live peacefully together? In Northern Ireland (Ulster) an attempt is at last being made to forge a new beginning with people who were once sworn enemies trying to get along with each other for a greater good. Attempts by a marginalised few to derail the process have not succeeded and I hope they never will.  Even the Rev Ian Paisley seems a changed man. This is the stuff of true statesmanship. Incidentally, I note that a lot of the ground work leading up to the settlement was done by the Quakers, always a quiet, unsung force for non-violence and peace in the world.

In the Middle East the long drawn out conflict between Israel and the Palestinians continues with periodic eruptions of hatred and violence on both sides. My knowledge of the post WW2 settlement in the region is weak but I cannot, for the life of me, understand why, two generations later, they cannot arrive at a peaceful agreement on statehood that is good for everyone. I read on the BBC website that a one state solution, with both Palestinian and Israeli people sharing equal rights in one state, is on the table again. It should be possible to make this work with trust and good will on all sides.  It takes an act of great faith to make geo-political solutions work, so I wish them luck and good judgement.

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21850739 .

UK weather - appalling!

We seem to have no end to winter here in the UK: it has been hovering around 2-5 degrees daytime temperatures, sometimes even lower, for months and months now. This weekend we have yet more snow forecast! A few years ago we were bemoaning the lack of cold winters and lack of snow. Not any more.  In about 9 days the clocks go to British Summer Time - but where is spring>

Tuesday 26 February 2013

Bulgarian and Romanian immigration into the UK


If you are concerned about the unrestricted access into the UK of Bulgarian and Romanian nationals in 2014, you may want to sign this ePetition. We are a small island already overcrowded with resources at breaking point. We really cannot cope with up to 600000 additional incomers many of whom will come simply to make use of our benefits system. No problem with people coming in with skills we need, but please not a free for all.
The EU has a lot to answer for.
 

Monday 18 February 2013

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2111478/

If you see no other film in a cinema this year, see this documentary film. It beggars believe how complicit the Catholic Church has been in suppressing and hiding child abuse cases by priests world-wide. The complicity goes right to the pope. No wonder he has decided to resign. Shame on the lot of them!

Thursday 31 January 2013

N-back test in neuro-science

For several years now I've taken part, as a guinea pig, in some Cambridge University research in the Department of Speech, Language and the Brain. It involves doing occasional audio and visual tests on a PC and the occasional MRI scan of my brain.

Today I did a 2.5 hour long test that included a fiendish test called an N-back test where you have to say if the letter on the screen is the same as the one before, or in further tests the one before the one before, or the one before the one before.

Now, whereas I could do almost every other test they gave me without difficulty, this one I found almost impossibly hard.

"Meta-analysis of 24 n-back neuroimaging studies have shown that during this exercise the following brain regions are consistently activated: lateral premotor cortex; dorsal cingulate and medial premotor cortex; dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex; frontal poles; and medial and lateral posterior parietal cortex." ...according to Wikipedia.

Now I am unsure what a poor performance in this test tells the researchers, but I hope my contribution helped.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Buying everything British - not easy

On BBC TV this morning they featured the Bradshaw family who are trying to buy everything British during 2013 i.e. food, clothes, electrical goods, fuel etc. As most of our manufacturing base has disappeared overseas, mainly to China, to reduce manufacturing costs, it is increasingly difficult to succeed in this challenge. The PC I am writing this on is made in China for a start. I see they have just run out of black pepper and are now stuck for a replacement as most pepper comes from exotic places. Buying BP petrol is a bit of a cheat as this company is really a large multi-national, but short of running a car on chip fat oil made from British grown sunflowers it is quite hard to find British petrol.

In my own small way I'd like to try to emulate them, in shopping if in nothing else, by buying British meats and British vegetables and fruit far more than hitherto.

Can someone explain to me how our economy works if nearly everything we eat, drink and use is imported from abroad? What we export surely does not balance the costs of these goods, so doesn't it mean we are just stoking up our debt still further?

The Bradshaws website is at http://www.britishfamily.co.uk/.

In the limit world trade would collapse if we traded nothing outside our country, but they are trying to make a point that virtually nothing is made in the UK these days. Surely there has to come a time when more of what we need will be made in the UK again?

Monday 14 January 2013

The bonus season fiasco

The BBC News website mentioned that Goldman-Sachs may be postponing their UK bonus pay-outs this year so that employees who qualify will only have to pay tax at 45% rather than 50%. I do not know if this is factually correct but I have strong views on this:
  • No company should be paying its employees average bonuses over £200k as I understand G-S did last year. Is this a correct figure? If correct, such payments look OBSCENE. Who needs this sort of money?
  • No company should be manipulating bonus payments for tax avoidance reasons.
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21015726 .