Trust me, I'm an RSA Fellow

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Capital gains
David Halpern argues that social capital – the foundation for an economy of regard – is a better measure of national wealth than conventional economic indicators

Ask yourself this question: do you think most people can be trusted? Don’t dwell on it for too long – just offer a general sense. Would you say ‘yes’, or would you say ‘no, you can’t be too careful’? The chances are that, if you are from a professional background, relatively politically engaged and with a university degree – a typical RSA Fellow – you would answer ‘yes’. If so, you would be among a minority of Britons today.

This wasn’t always the case. In the late 1950s, about 60 percent of Britons said they thought most other people could be trusted. The figure had fallen to 43 percent by the early 1980s and to 29 percent by the mid- to late 1990s. This question helps measure what sociologists and political scientists call ‘social capital’. It gives a sense of the extent to which individuals and communities trust each other, reciprocate helpfully and are connected to other people.

Not just bankers then?

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Side deals push head teacher's pay to £400,000
A Comprehensive head teacher has been paid more than £400,000 in a single year after clinching a series of lucrative deals including a contract to work as “project manager” on a development at his own school. Sir Alan Davies, knighted in 2000 after turning round academic results at Copland community school in Wembley, northwest London, was suspended earlier this year. He is undergoing disciplinary proceedings for gross misconduct. He and senior colleagues are also alleged by auditors to have made “nepotistic” appointments, including three relatives of Davies. The scandal at Copland highlights the growth of a culture of bonuses and “consultancy” contracts to boost the pay of state school head teachers.

Fighting England's Libel Laws

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England’s libel laws don’t just gag me, they blindfold you - Simon Singh
Keep Libel Laws Out of Science has started a campaign for libel reform, which will have an effect far beyond the world of science if it is successful.  A statement already has 20,000 signatories, including the astronomer royal, the poet laureate, Richard Dawkins, Stephen Fry, Ricky Gervais and Dara O’Briain. To add your name, visit www.senseaboutscience.org/freedebate.

The problem of libel is partly about what we as journalists, bloggers and academics can write, but it is also crucially about what you are allowed to read. You deserve the same access to information as the rest of Europe and America.
Read the whole article

Don't upset the golden applecart

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Reagan Revenants Return to Enforce Empire's Agenda
If Obama and crew actually had an agenda – as the hyper-militarist Dick Cheney had, when he and his front-man seized power in 2000 – then they could have pushed through any number of genuine, substantive reforms, with strong public support. But it should be clear to anyone by now that Obama, like Clinton before him, has no real idea of what he wants to do in government, or what he wants government to do: he just wants to enjoy the props and perks of power for awhile, to play the role of president, like Michael Douglas or Martin Sheen in a Aaron Sorkin fantasy, then bask in celebrityhood the rest of his days. The only real agenda of the Obama Administration is keeping Democrats in office, as Joe Biden revealed the other day, and winning a second term for the Prez. And then? Big book contracts, lucrative speaking engagements, corporate directorships, some charity PR....whatever.
                                                                                                                                            Chris Floyd

Happy Afghan anniversary

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Eight years ago, on Oct. 7, 2001, the U.S. launched a war upon Afghanistan.
“With regret,” a Russian official said in September 2001, trying to warn the U.S. of what lay ahead should we invade Afghanistan, “I have to say that you’re really going to get the hell kicked out of you.”

Cofer Black, Director of the CIA’s Counter-Terrorist Center, responded: “We’re going to kill them,” he said. “We’re going to put their heads on sticks. We’re going to rock their world.” [Bush at War by Bob Woodward, p. 103]

This is the attitude that got the United States into this war. This is the attitude that invaders and occupiers of Afghanistan have always had before they end up withdrawing years later in shame and defeat.