ARCHIVES - content of recent topics and newsworthy items:
Friday 19/07/2013 14:20 GMT - Legislating morals.......this has been a debate which has raged on for time immemorial - sometimes resulting in genuine progress but often regressing into the realm of the unjust, unfair and unequal treatment of people for the wrong reasons. Indeed democracy itself, as a system of government, has been fundamentally shaken on a number of occasions - especially where small and often not fully aware majorities have forced their standards on large minorities within a society. Some would argue that it is not actually possible to legislate morals and that crucial to any truly fair system of running civil society is a combination of understanding, open-mindedness, and a willingness to live and let live - the principle caveat underlying the functionality of this concept being that no person has the right to invade another person's personal space or to deprive others in any way of what are almost universally accepted human rights. In principle, this would appear to be a sensible approach for people who must share everyday life on a planet of over 7 billion persons from many different races, cultures, religions and belief systems.....but drawing the lines - as we sometimes must (with greater specificity) is not always easy - TAKE FOR EXAMPLE THE DECADES LONG DISCUSSION ON THE LEGALISATION OF MARIJUANA - HOW IS THIS WORSE, MANY ARGUE THAN THE LEGALISATION OF ALCOHOL - SHOULD IT NOT BE A MATTER FOR THE INDIVIDUAL TO DECIDE (AGAIN CONDITIONAL ON ANY SUCH DECISION NOT HAVING A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE LIFE OF ANY ONE ELSE)? BUT THE ARGUMENTS AND DISCUSSION POINTS HERE ARE WIDE AND VARIED - PLEASE SHARE WITH US SOME OF YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE QUESTION...:
Thursday 18/07/2013 10:57 GMT - After a long, cold winter, which even saw snow and sleet fall in the West Midlands as recently as May, the UK is now gripped in a remarkably long heat wave - the BBC reporting today that over 700 people are dead as a result of the onslaught of daily rainless, windless heat!.....just a few months prior during the southern hemisphere's summer, Sydney,Australia reported a record temperature of 46C (115F) - at the same time, other parts of that continent were experiencing so much rain that severe floods were causing immense damage, while in Tasmania, forest raged uncontrollably across that island - not unlike the terrible, massive fires that engulfed large sections of New Mexico and Arizona just last month and caused the extremely sad deaths of 19 elite fire fighters.
There are clearly a vast array of examples of the fact that since humans began recording weather trends, the last few years have demonstrated some of the most extreme and significant changes of weather patterns across the globe
The debate therefore continues regarding the interactions between man-made and natural causation.....to what extent is this the earth going through one of its natural planetary "cycles" and to what extent can we blame increasing "carbon footprints" (by countries all over the world) and by a globe where some 7,166,000,000 people now co-exist (that is the number of people alive on planet earth at the time of writing)?
Many argue that its a bit of both things - BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK AND WHAT SHOULD EACH ONE OF US, WHEREVER WE HAPPEN TO LIVE BE ATTEMPTING TO DO IN OUR DAY TO DAY LIVES TO LESSEN THE POSSIBILITIES OF MOTHER NATURE PRODUCING MORE AND MORE EXTREME WEATHER PATTERNS? PLEASE LET US HAVE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS IMPORTANT QUESTION?
Wednesday 17/07/2013 08:36 GMT - Much has been made of the now infamous Payday lending schemes which emanate from Financial Institutions across the globe, the clear risk that their existence merely serves to compound debt cycles for the poorer members of Society - there have been varying degrees of response to the dealings of these entities, ranging from all-out declarations of war to promises to rapidly enact legislation which will facilitate better regulation of Payday lending schemes. Nevertheless the fact that a number of these company have been hugely successful is indicative that perhaps they are filling a sorely needed role.....and once again, regulators are behind the wagon and with these promises of greater regulation not much has been said about viable solutions to service the obvious need for more reasonable lending standards......DO YOU FEEL THAT THERE IS A ROLE FOR PAYDAY LENDING COMPANIES/SCHEMES AND THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO BALANCE SENSIBLE CREDIT CONTROL WITH THE PUBLIC DEMAND FOR BETTER ACCESS TO SHORT-TERM CASH FLOW?
Friday 19/07/2013 14:20 GMT - Legislating morals.......this has been a debate which has raged on for time immemorial - sometimes resulting in genuine progress but often regressing into the realm of the unjust, unfair and unequal treatment of people for the wrong reasons. Indeed democracy itself, as a system of government, has been fundamentally shaken on a number of occasions - especially where small and often not fully aware majorities have forced their standards on large minorities within a society. Some would argue that it is not actually possible to legislate morals and that crucial to any truly fair system of running civil society is a combination of understanding, open-mindedness, and a willingness to live and let live - the principle caveat underlying the functionality of this concept being that no person has the right to invade another person's personal space or to deprive others in any way of what are almost universally accepted human rights. In principle, this would appear to be a sensible approach for people who must share everyday life on a planet of over 7 billion persons from many different races, cultures, religions and belief systems.....but drawing the lines - as we sometimes must (with greater specificity) is not always easy - TAKE FOR EXAMPLE THE DECADES LONG DISCUSSION ON THE LEGALISATION OF MARIJUANA - HOW IS THIS WORSE, MANY ARGUE THAN THE LEGALISATION OF ALCOHOL - SHOULD IT NOT BE A MATTER FOR THE INDIVIDUAL TO DECIDE (AGAIN CONDITIONAL ON ANY SUCH DECISION NOT HAVING A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE LIFE OF ANY ONE ELSE)? BUT THE ARGUMENTS AND DISCUSSION POINTS HERE ARE WIDE AND VARIED - PLEASE SHARE WITH US SOME OF YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE QUESTION...:
Thursday 18/07/2013 10:57 GMT - After a long, cold winter, which even saw snow and sleet fall in the West Midlands as recently as May, the UK is now gripped in a remarkably long heat wave - the BBC reporting today that over 700 people are dead as a result of the onslaught of daily rainless, windless heat!.....just a few months prior during the southern hemisphere's summer, Sydney,Australia reported a record temperature of 46C (115F) - at the same time, other parts of that continent were experiencing so much rain that severe floods were causing immense damage, while in Tasmania, forest raged uncontrollably across that island - not unlike the terrible, massive fires that engulfed large sections of New Mexico and Arizona just last month and caused the extremely sad deaths of 19 elite fire fighters.
There are clearly a vast array of examples of the fact that since humans began recording weather trends, the last few years have demonstrated some of the most extreme and significant changes of weather patterns across the globe
The debate therefore continues regarding the interactions between man-made and natural causation.....to what extent is this the earth going through one of its natural planetary "cycles" and to what extent can we blame increasing "carbon footprints" (by countries all over the world) and by a globe where some 7,166,000,000 people now co-exist (that is the number of people alive on planet earth at the time of writing)?
Many argue that its a bit of both things - BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK AND WHAT SHOULD EACH ONE OF US, WHEREVER WE HAPPEN TO LIVE BE ATTEMPTING TO DO IN OUR DAY TO DAY LIVES TO LESSEN THE POSSIBILITIES OF MOTHER NATURE PRODUCING MORE AND MORE EXTREME WEATHER PATTERNS? PLEASE LET US HAVE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS IMPORTANT QUESTION?
Wednesday 17/07/2013 08:36 GMT - Much has been made of the now infamous Payday lending schemes which emanate from Financial Institutions across the globe, the clear risk that their existence merely serves to compound debt cycles for the poorer members of Society - there have been varying degrees of response to the dealings of these entities, ranging from all-out declarations of war to promises to rapidly enact legislation which will facilitate better regulation of Payday lending schemes. Nevertheless the fact that a number of these company have been hugely successful is indicative that perhaps they are filling a sorely needed role.....and once again, regulators are behind the wagon and with these promises of greater regulation not much has been said about viable solutions to service the obvious need for more reasonable lending standards......DO YOU FEEL THAT THERE IS A ROLE FOR PAYDAY LENDING COMPANIES/SCHEMES AND THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO BALANCE SENSIBLE CREDIT CONTROL WITH THE PUBLIC DEMAND FOR BETTER ACCESS TO SHORT-TERM CASH FLOW?