Clearly the bird flu story has far-reaching implications for all of us. But I’ve noticed that whenever I talk about it with anyone, a lot of the conversation seems to focus on the fact that it’s Bernard Matthews (a nice link for you where all your questions about how bird flu might affect your Turkey [...]

Filed under: culture, society, ukpolitics on February 5th, 2007 | 5 Comments »

She is the unlucky minister who gets the job of defending the governments stance on gambling which consists of licensing 90 new casinos in the last two years, with 10 supercasinos in the pipeline, according to a recently leaked document.
There are certain arguments in favour of liberalising gambling. While it is certainly addictive (Mark Griffiths, [...]

Filed under: gambling, labour, society on January 28th, 2007 | 1 Comment »

The influential Council of Circuit Judges is opposing proposed changes in the law to boost rape conviction rates. The Guardian led with this article on the front page, highlighting the abysmal 5% conviction rate from rape trials. The judges are objecting to three points, first of all a new definition of consent to sexual intercourse [...]

Filed under: crime, society, ukpolitics on January 23rd, 2007 | 5 Comments »

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1995296,00.html
This article, claiming as it does that British society continues on the downward spiral that it has been set on since time immemorial, is sadly typical of ‘lazy journalism’. This is really no more than a written version of the BBC’s hit ‘Grumpy Old Men’.

However, what really grates is not criticism of the modern order [...]

Filed under: conservatives, society, ukpolitics on January 21st, 2007 | No Comments »