Friday, Jan 27th 2012
The sage does no-thing, but leaves no-thing undone.’
So wrote Lao Tsu in what is now a major religious text. There may be something in this when it comes to fiscal policy.
There are, broadly speaking, three things a Government can do when the recessionary fires break out in the house.
It can do nothing and wait [...]
Terry Eagleton on Walter Benjamin | Waking the dead
"There is no way in which we can retrospectively erase the Treaty of Vienna or the Great Irish Famine. It is a peculiar feature of human actions that, once performed, they can never be recuperated. What is true of the past will always be true of it. [...]
From Advertising Age magazine, an update as to the current whereabouts and activities of past winners of the U.K.’s Advertising Executive of the Year award.
2008: Gareth Dailly: Liver failure brought about by excessive consumption of Jack Daniel’s bourbon. Currently in intensive care, Luton.
2007: Brett Kenna: Died 2008. Trampled underfoot during crowd [...]
In a couple of excellent recent posts on Progressive Economy Michael Burke and Michael Taft look separately at two pieces of analysis of the current economic situation for Ireland by the European Commission and find that all is not as we are often led to believe.
How Unique is Ireland’s Economic Crisis?
In Michael Burke’s post he suggests that [...]
Labour’s plan for ‘John Lewis’ public services | The Guardian
Labour respond to the Tory's suggested changes in the running of local authorities, schools and hospitals with a partnership model that would let staff and users have greater control.
"Public sector bodies, which would also include leisure centres, housing organisations and social care providers, would be [...]
[League for a Workers' Republic, After the Election 1977, available here. (1.92MB)]
According to D.R. O’Connor Lysaght in his Early History of Irish Trotskyism, the League for a Workers Republic was formed in March 1968. Those involved in its foundation included Sean Matgamna, Peter Graham, Paddy Healy, and Liam Daltun. It arose out of a split [...]
Greater equality and better health — Pickett and Wilkinson | British Medical Journal
In 1996, when discussing studies of income inequality and health, the editor of the BMJ wrote, "The big idea is that what matters in determining mortality and health in a society is less the overall wealth of that society and more how evenly [...]
Income inequality, mortality, and self rated health: meta-analysis of multilevel studies — Kondo et al. 339: b4471 — BMJ
"The results suggest a modest adverse effect of income inequality on health, although the population impact might be larger if the association is truly causal. The results also support the threshold effect hypothesis, which posits the existence [...]
Alternate-Universe Sci-Fi Channel Show Asks What Would Happen If Germany Lost War | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source
"Imagine, if you will, a world in which Hitler's glorious master plan had instead ended in ignominious failure, and the Allies had somehow emerged the victors," the show's creator, Leonhardt Riefenstahl, said during an appearance on [...]
So, Professor John O’Hagan wants to cut economic growth, undermine business profits and throw more people out of work while saving only a fractional amount on the borrowing requirement; not to mention the risk of embedding debt into the economy going forward. Not a good day’s work.
Now, I’m positive Professor O’Hagan doesn’t want any of [...]
