Category: Current Affairs
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Why Are Governments Chasing Benefit Cheats, but not Tax-Evaders?
A brilliant ad in The Times today, which comically captures the absurd tragedy of the government’s new idea to tackle the lazy, work-shy unemployed: make them do voluntary work. Which will benefit the councils having to put thousands out of work because of spending cuts. Discussing this today with a colleague he mentioned the disparity…
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The 33
The story of the Chilean miners has been one of the most incredibly moving events I can remember. There’s something of the two-fingers-up-to-nature which is both exhilarating and troubling, and something of the deeply archetypal and transformative about the rescue… 33 Sliding, encased, through the bowels the earth thirty-three steel turds are evacuated into the…
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Alas, University, We Knew Thee Well
The announcement that there will be no cap on tuition fees for English universities made me very sad today. Granted, our country’s finances are in dire straits. But it seems hugely short-sighted to try to claw back that money by raising costs for students, and setting them off in life with huge amounts of debt.…
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Dirt Boundaries and Commonwealth Games: An Opportunity for Renewal
The furore over the state of the athletes’ accommodation at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games has focused largely on the issue of cleanliness. Putting the issues of security and hygiene aside for a moment – these are separate concerns that require a different reaction – I think the cleanliness issue is interesting in the way it…
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Selling Short: No Christian Should be involved in Spread Betting
A free supplement in The Independent today is all about spread betting: what it is, what the pitfalls are. It was pretty clear: there are potentially huge rewards, but because you can bet whatever money you like on each share, you can actually be exposed to huge losses too. Fine, whatever. But what disgusted me…
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The Burning Issue… Has Terry Jones Thought This Through?
The unfolding drama about the potential burning of copies of the Qu’ran tomorrow throws up some very very interesting issues. The wonderfully-tached Terry Jones has named 9/11 ‘International Burn A Koran Day’ but the event appears to be on hold for a while while he fields calls from high-ranking government officials and leading Muslims. Not bad…