31
General Chatter - The Boozer / Happy Christmas!
« on: December 24, 2015, 10:55:09 PM »
I hope everyone has a great day, however you celebrate it.
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32
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / Physics simulations / games
« on: December 24, 2015, 01:38:25 PM »
Here are a couple of things that might be interesting for a little quiet time over the holiday period:
1. A golf game where you have to shoot a charged "ball" through a combination of electric and magnetic fields, aiming at a "hole". Once the magnetic fields are on, it's excitingly non-intuituive. NB. requires Flash.
2. A simulation of gas particles in motion under gravity. You can adjust their sizes and masses, and the system temperature, and then watch how the move, and their height and speed distributions.
1. A golf game where you have to shoot a charged "ball" through a combination of electric and magnetic fields, aiming at a "hole". Once the magnetic fields are on, it's excitingly non-intuituive. NB. requires Flash.
2. A simulation of gas particles in motion under gravity. You can adjust their sizes and masses, and the system temperature, and then watch how the move, and their height and speed distributions.
33
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / Rebuilding EDSAC
« on: December 08, 2015, 05:36:22 PM »
EDSAC (the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) was one of the world's first computers: it was built in the late 1940s, using electronic valves instead of not-yet-invented transistors. Unfortunately, it wasn't preserved, so a team of volunteers is now building a replica, to be used as an exhibit at the UK National Museum of Computing. It's a big job: it contains about 3,000 valves, mounted on 140 chassis, and each chassis takes at least 20 hours to wire up.
More details, for those interested, in the inevitable BBC article.
More details, for those interested, in the inevitable BBC article.
34
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / England's highest waterfall - temporarily
« on: December 08, 2015, 12:48:51 AM »
This is Malham Cove, a fairly well-known scenic location in the Yorkshire Dales (northern England). This is the first time in about 200 years that water has flowed over the cliff - it's about 70m (230 feet) high.
Some background: a particularly intense storm, named Desmond, passed over northern England and southern Scotland on Saturday and early Sunday. It produced the highest rainfall ever recorded in a 24-hour period in England - just over 340mm (14.4 inches). This is about a month's normal rainfall in one of the wettest parts of the country. Unsurprisingly, it has caused extensive flooding and other damage across a wide area: several thousand houses and other buildings flooded, and tens of thousands without electricity.
Malham, too, got a lot of rain on Saturday. The underlying rock in the area is limestone; this dissolves (very slowly) in rain water, so here, as in other so-called "karst" areas, extensive cave systems have developed. The river in the upper part of the valley flows towards the cliff, but sinks into a hole in the ground a couple of miles before it reaches it. It then emerges again at the base of the cliff, and continues flowing down the valley in the open. At least, that's what it normally does - after Saturday's rain, there is presumably so much water in the river that it can't all go through the cave, and the rest continues flowing on the surface and over the cliff.
Some background: a particularly intense storm, named Desmond, passed over northern England and southern Scotland on Saturday and early Sunday. It produced the highest rainfall ever recorded in a 24-hour period in England - just over 340mm (14.4 inches). This is about a month's normal rainfall in one of the wettest parts of the country. Unsurprisingly, it has caused extensive flooding and other damage across a wide area: several thousand houses and other buildings flooded, and tens of thousands without electricity.
Malham, too, got a lot of rain on Saturday. The underlying rock in the area is limestone; this dissolves (very slowly) in rain water, so here, as in other so-called "karst" areas, extensive cave systems have developed. The river in the upper part of the valley flows towards the cliff, but sinks into a hole in the ground a couple of miles before it reaches it. It then emerges again at the base of the cliff, and continues flowing down the valley in the open. At least, that's what it normally does - after Saturday's rain, there is presumably so much water in the river that it can't all go through the cave, and the rest continues flowing on the surface and over the cliff.
35
Announcements! The Town Crier! / Updates from the Forge: An Archive
« on: October 07, 2015, 12:37:16 AM »
Here is a list of our Updates from the Forge newsletters, in the hope that someone will find it useful:
53: Spring 2024
52: New Year 2024
51: Autumn 2023
50: Summer 2023
49: Spring 2023
48: New Year 2023
47: Autumn 2022
46: Summer 2022
45: Spring 2022
44: New Year 2022
43: Autumn 2021
42: Summer 2021
41: Spring 2021
40: Winter 2020-21
39: Autumn 2020
38: Summer 2020
37: Spring 2020
36: New Year 2020
35: Autumn 2019
34: Summer 2019
33: Spring 2019
32: New Year 2019
31: November 2018
30: October 2018
29: September 2018
28: August 2018
27: July 2018
26: June 2018
25: May 2018
24: April 2018
23: March 2018
22: February 2018
21: January 2018
20: December 2017
19: November 2017
18: October 2017
17: September 2017
16: August 2017
15: July 2017
14: June 2017
13: May 2017
12: April 2017
11: March 2017
10: February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
53: Spring 2024
52: New Year 2024
51: Autumn 2023
50: Summer 2023
49: Spring 2023
48: New Year 2023
47: Autumn 2022
46: Summer 2022
45: Spring 2022
44: New Year 2022
43: Autumn 2021
42: Summer 2021
41: Spring 2021
40: Winter 2020-21
39: Autumn 2020
38: Summer 2020
37: Spring 2020
36: New Year 2020
35: Autumn 2019
34: Summer 2019
33: Spring 2019
32: New Year 2019
31: November 2018
30: October 2018
29: September 2018
28: August 2018
27: July 2018
26: June 2018
25: May 2018
24: April 2018
23: March 2018
22: February 2018
21: January 2018
20: December 2017
19: November 2017
18: October 2017
17: September 2017
16: August 2017
15: July 2017
14: June 2017
13: May 2017
12: April 2017
11: March 2017
10: February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
36
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / Lunar eclipse tonight
« on: September 27, 2015, 10:40:06 PM »
In case you haven't already found out, there will be a lunar eclipse tonight. It should be readily visible from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South America and much of North America. The first contact with the Earth's shadow is at 00:11 UTC, maximum eclipse at 02:47 UTC, and last contact at 05:22 UTC. Currently the Central European Timezone is 2 hours ahead of UTC; the UK is one hour ahead; the US Eastern Timezone is 4 hours behind.
This eclipse is also notable for coinciding with a "super-moon", i.e. the Moon is a bit closer than usual. This means that it will appear a bit bigger, and (more important for observers) the eclipse will last longer and the Moon will be darker.
For those wanting more information, there is, as ever, a BBC News article, and also the NASA Eclipse Website (from which the BBC seems to have got most of its technical information).
This eclipse is also notable for coinciding with a "super-moon", i.e. the Moon is a bit closer than usual. This means that it will appear a bit bigger, and (more important for observers) the eclipse will last longer and the Moon will be darker.
For those wanting more information, there is, as ever, a BBC News article, and also the NASA Eclipse Website (from which the BBC seems to have got most of its technical information).
37
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / A Letter of Mr Isaac Newton
« on: August 22, 2015, 01:27:20 AM »
I ran into this today, and thought it might be of interest: the Royal Society has digitised and put online some of its early publications, and these include the copy of Philisophical Transactions that contains Newton's original work on optics.
38
Discussion and Debate - The Philosopher's Plaza / UK government vs. encryption
« on: July 31, 2015, 06:48:12 PM »
Here's an interesting report from the BBC's technology correspondent. As I and others have said here before, the UK government has been making noises for some months that sound rather like a ban on the use of strong encryption if it has no "back door" for the security services - and of course if the security services have a back door, then it's available to anyone who works out how to crack it.
The government seems to be stuck in some sort of denial or double-think: they want encryption for law-abiding citizens, while simultaneously wanting no encryption for criminals. They seem unable to grasp, so far, that encryption of a communication service applies to everyone who uses it, or no-one.
The government seems to be stuck in some sort of denial or double-think: they want encryption for law-abiding citizens, while simultaneously wanting no encryption for criminals. They seem unable to grasp, so far, that encryption of a communication service applies to everyone who uses it, or no-one.
39
History, Science, and Interesting Information - The Great Library / Sand Won't Save You This Time
« on: July 25, 2015, 09:14:38 PM »
We don't seem to get much posted about chemistry here, so I thought that, as a former chemist (at least up to degree level), I should do something about this. Fortunately, I've found someone who's already done the hard work, i.e. writing intelligently and wittily about things chemical, and all I have to do is provide the links 
So, there's a chemist named Derek Lowe who publishes a blog, aptly named In The Pipeline. Chemistry as a subject is known for producing bangs and smells; the blog has an occasional series of articles under the heading of Things I Won't Work With, looking at a variety of highly explosive, smelly or otherwise noxious chemicals.
These are some of my favourite posts:
- Sand Won't Save You This Time (hence the title of this post) about chlorine trifluoride (ClF3), which reacts so vigorously that it will burn sand. There's a follow-up post with a YouTube video showing some reactions.
- dioxygen difluoride, another extremely vigorous reactant, memorably described in the post as "Satan's kimchi".
Edit: I've updated all the links - "In The Pipeline" switched hosts. The old host stayed up for while, but is now intermittently off-line.
So, there's a chemist named Derek Lowe who publishes a blog, aptly named In The Pipeline. Chemistry as a subject is known for producing bangs and smells; the blog has an occasional series of articles under the heading of Things I Won't Work With, looking at a variety of highly explosive, smelly or otherwise noxious chemicals.
These are some of my favourite posts:
- Sand Won't Save You This Time (hence the title of this post) about chlorine trifluoride (ClF3), which reacts so vigorously that it will burn sand. There's a follow-up post with a YouTube video showing some reactions.
- dioxygen difluoride, another extremely vigorous reactant, memorably described in the post as "Satan's kimchi".
Edit: I've updated all the links - "In The Pipeline" switched hosts. The old host stayed up for while, but is now intermittently off-line.
40
The Pulpit - Opinion / UK politics: a letter to my MP
« on: May 18, 2015, 11:18:40 PM »
I have now put my money where my mouth is (at least in the sense of time = money), and written to my MP. In the hope that it will be helpful to someone else, the text is below. Overall it took me under an hour to write, and another 15 minutes to deliver.
Dear MP
Human Rights in the UK
I am writing as one of your constituents, to express my concerns about proposed Conservative legislation. Obviously there are the proposed welfare cuts, which will damage the dignity and well-being of many of the most vulnerable members of our society. However, I fear that there are more urgent and more far-reaching threats.
As I'm sure you are aware, the Conservatives announced three pieces of proposed human rights legislation in their first few days in office:
- repeal of the Human Rights Act
- introduction of an “anti-extremism” bill
- introduction of the “snoopers' charter”
The “snoopers' charter” is bad enough, giving the government power to read all our electronic communications, any time it wants to, and possibly making illegal the encryption that protects our on-line transactions from criminals. However, it's the other two bills that are to my mind frankly terrifying.
The Human Rights Act was one of the principal achievements of the last Labour government, directly enshrining in British law the European Convention on Human Rights (itself the embodiment of a great deal of British legal principle). Repeal of the Act will render our human rights subject to change at will by a government that has already shown it cares very little for them. Your colleague Keir Starmer has already written in The Guardian of the dangers of going down this road. You might also be aware that an online petition (at keeptheact.uk) is being run by Amnesty International, and this on its own should surely set the alarm bells ringing – the world's foremost human rights campaign organisation is running a campaign aimed at our own government!
The “anti-extremism” bill threatens to introduce into British law the Orwellian concept of “thoughtcrime”. If it passes, the government will have the power to decide that the expression of any particular opinion or view, even if legal, is unacceptable, and to gag anyone expressing such an opinion. This is immediately contrary to our right of freedom of speech, and indeed the legal principle of “innocent until proven guilty”. It could, of course, very easily be used against anyone objecting to any government policy, including the welfare cuts already mentioned. The “snoopers' charter” would obviously facilitate this process.
I trust that this makes my concerns clear, and I hope that you will work to prevent any of these bills from becoming law.
Yours sincerely
My MP is Labour, which probably makes the letter easier for me to write as he will naturally oppose all this legislation anyway. For a Conservative MP, I would change the tone - remove the references to the welfare cuts, make more of the Convention being Winston Churchill's baby, obviously switch the mention of Keir Starmer (Labour) to Dominic Grieve, Ken Clarke or David Davis (Conservative).
Next steps? I'm contemplating writing to any or all of Dominic Grieve, Ken Clarke, David Davis and Keir Starmer. It's unconventional to write to MPs other than one's own, but they are likely to be leading the pro-human rights group, and I want them to know that I think they're doing the right thing.
Dear MP
Human Rights in the UK
I am writing as one of your constituents, to express my concerns about proposed Conservative legislation. Obviously there are the proposed welfare cuts, which will damage the dignity and well-being of many of the most vulnerable members of our society. However, I fear that there are more urgent and more far-reaching threats.
As I'm sure you are aware, the Conservatives announced three pieces of proposed human rights legislation in their first few days in office:
- repeal of the Human Rights Act
- introduction of an “anti-extremism” bill
- introduction of the “snoopers' charter”
The “snoopers' charter” is bad enough, giving the government power to read all our electronic communications, any time it wants to, and possibly making illegal the encryption that protects our on-line transactions from criminals. However, it's the other two bills that are to my mind frankly terrifying.
The Human Rights Act was one of the principal achievements of the last Labour government, directly enshrining in British law the European Convention on Human Rights (itself the embodiment of a great deal of British legal principle). Repeal of the Act will render our human rights subject to change at will by a government that has already shown it cares very little for them. Your colleague Keir Starmer has already written in The Guardian of the dangers of going down this road. You might also be aware that an online petition (at keeptheact.uk) is being run by Amnesty International, and this on its own should surely set the alarm bells ringing – the world's foremost human rights campaign organisation is running a campaign aimed at our own government!
The “anti-extremism” bill threatens to introduce into British law the Orwellian concept of “thoughtcrime”. If it passes, the government will have the power to decide that the expression of any particular opinion or view, even if legal, is unacceptable, and to gag anyone expressing such an opinion. This is immediately contrary to our right of freedom of speech, and indeed the legal principle of “innocent until proven guilty”. It could, of course, very easily be used against anyone objecting to any government policy, including the welfare cuts already mentioned. The “snoopers' charter” would obviously facilitate this process.
I trust that this makes my concerns clear, and I hope that you will work to prevent any of these bills from becoming law.
Yours sincerely
My MP is Labour, which probably makes the letter easier for me to write as he will naturally oppose all this legislation anyway. For a Conservative MP, I would change the tone - remove the references to the welfare cuts, make more of the Convention being Winston Churchill's baby, obviously switch the mention of Keir Starmer (Labour) to Dominic Grieve, Ken Clarke or David Davis (Conservative).
Next steps? I'm contemplating writing to any or all of Dominic Grieve, Ken Clarke, David Davis and Keir Starmer. It's unconventional to write to MPs other than one's own, but they are likely to be leading the pro-human rights group, and I want them to know that I think they're doing the right thing.
41
Discussion and Debate - The Philosopher's Plaza / General political discussion
« on: May 17, 2015, 07:47:07 PM »
I found something interesting and politics-related. It didn't seem to justify a thread of its own, but we didn't have a thread for general discussion, as far as I could see. So I made one
Anyway, here's what I found: yet another BBC article, this time about the nature of the presidency of the United States. The author found an interesting quote: "Great Britain is a republic, with a hereditary president, while the United States is a monarchy with an elective king." I don't think it's entirely true, but it says a lot about the powers and roles of the two positions.
Anyway, here's what I found: yet another BBC article, this time about the nature of the presidency of the United States. The author found an interesting quote: "Great Britain is a republic, with a hereditary president, while the United States is a monarchy with an elective king." I don't think it's entirely true, but it says a lot about the powers and roles of the two positions.
42
The Pulpit - Opinion / UK politics: Democracy Is For Life, Not Just For Christmas
« on: May 17, 2015, 12:57:19 AM »
This is a second Facebook rant, or, perhaps more accurately, a desperate plea for people to do something about UK human rights while we still have the chance. I can't seem to get Facebook to give me a link to the specific post, but it's on my timeline.
Since the election, there have been comments from "the right" that "the left" are complaining unjustly about the election result, that this is "sour grapes" or they are being "bad losers". I believe that this betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of democracy.
Democracy does not consist of voting for an MP once every five years, then sitting on our backsides and waiting for the next election. If democracy is to mean anything, it includes the right to express opinions and seek to influence any matter of public policy, at any time - all the more so if that policy is likely to cause harm to oneself or those one is concerned about. I might indeed say that this is a duty: how can policy be made fairly unless it is properly informed?
I can't say that I exercised this right before Friday 8th May 2015; I neglected this duty, at least partly because I did not see that it was needed. I am not neglecting it now. Human rights in this country are far too important a matter on which to remain silent.
I am reminded of Pastor Martin Niemöller's poem, starting: "First they came for the Communists; and I did not speak out, for I was not a Communist". We are, it seems, on the verge of writing one for the UK, starting: "First they came for the extremists, and I did not speak out, for I was not an extremist". I am not an extremist, but I am speaking out, now, while I still can. How does the poem end? "When they came for me, there was no-one left to speak out for me."
I beg you all to speak out.
Since the election, there have been comments from "the right" that "the left" are complaining unjustly about the election result, that this is "sour grapes" or they are being "bad losers". I believe that this betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of democracy.
Democracy does not consist of voting for an MP once every five years, then sitting on our backsides and waiting for the next election. If democracy is to mean anything, it includes the right to express opinions and seek to influence any matter of public policy, at any time - all the more so if that policy is likely to cause harm to oneself or those one is concerned about. I might indeed say that this is a duty: how can policy be made fairly unless it is properly informed?
I can't say that I exercised this right before Friday 8th May 2015; I neglected this duty, at least partly because I did not see that it was needed. I am not neglecting it now. Human rights in this country are far too important a matter on which to remain silent.
I am reminded of Pastor Martin Niemöller's poem, starting: "First they came for the Communists; and I did not speak out, for I was not a Communist". We are, it seems, on the verge of writing one for the UK, starting: "First they came for the extremists, and I did not speak out, for I was not an extremist". I am not an extremist, but I am speaking out, now, while I still can. How does the poem end? "When they came for me, there was no-one left to speak out for me."
I beg you all to speak out.
43
The Pulpit - Opinion / UK politics: I Did Not Vote For This
« on: May 17, 2015, 12:41:30 AM »
This is a rant I posted on Facebook a couple of days ago; I'm reposting it here in case anyone else is interested who hasn't already seen it. I've reformatted it slightly to provide better links etc., but the text is unchanged. Here's the Facebook post; there's some discussion in the comments there that might be interesting too.
It's been a week since the general election polls closed, the BBC exit poll was published, and what I now regard as a nightmare began to unfold. At first it was just shock at a wholly unexpected Conservative victory delivered by our medieval electoral system. Since then it has turned into horror and fear that permanent damage is about to be done to our civil liberties and freedoms built up over centuries.
So, what am I so worried about?
1. Repeal of the Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Act incorporates directly into British law the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights - you know, minor things like the right not to be killed, the right not to be tortured, the right to a fair trial, the right to freedom of expression, and various others. This is a convention that we, the UK, were instrumental in getting established in the chaos of post-WWII Europe, and have been a signatory to since 1950. Our new rulers want to repeal this - as far as I can tell purely on the grounds that they have had their knuckles rapped by the European Court of Human Rights a few times and are now like a kid with its fingers in its ears saying "La la la, I don't have to listen to you". Withdrawing from the Convention would place us in company with such bastions of human rights as Belarus and Uzbekistan.
In place of the Human Rights Act, our rulers propose a "British Bill of Rights". This would apparently give us the same rights, except for the bits that our rulers don't like, of course, and without any right to appeal beyond the UK legal system. This feels to me dangerously like the thin end of a wedge: once the principle is established that the government can legislate our rights away just because it find them inconvenient, where does it stop?
If you would like to know more, I recommend an article by Dominic Grieve - he was Attorney General in the last government from 2010 to 2014, and there's a suspicion that he lost his job because he was opposed to the repeal of the Act. His article explores the history and workings of the Convention, and shoots down all the government's objections to it. He also sets out several positive reasons for retaining it. One particularly strikes me - that if we withdraw from the Convention ourselves, we lose all credibility in promoting human rights elsewhere in the world.
If you then feel inspired to work for the retention of the Act, you can:
- Sign Amnesty International's petition at http://keeptheact.uk/ (Doesn't this scare you? The world's foremost human rights organisation has decided it needs to run a campaign aimed at our government.) You can donate to Amnesty too.
- Sign any other petitions you find (I think there are several in circulation, and there might even be one on the government's own petitions website once that reopens)
- Write to your MP expressing your concern about the Human Rights Act and urging them to keep it. Our MPs will determine the fate of the Act; the more we tell them we want it, the more likely they are to keep it.
2. Anti-extremism legislation
Or, as I am now thinking of it, the "thoughtcrime" bill, since it will effectively introduce George Orwell's concept from "1984" into British law. As I understand it, our rulers will determine what are acceptable and unacceptable thoughts and opinions, and will gag anyone who expresses unacceptable opinions. This is put forward to us on the grounds of suppressing the spread of violent extremism, but I fear it will once again be the thin end of a wedge - the history of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (usually know as RIPA) shows that a power once granted to the executive for ostensibly good reasons can easily be extended to cases far beyond those it was originally expected to cover. RIPA was introduced on the basis of enabling the security services to fight terrorism and other serious crimes; it has since been used to seize journalists' source information and to investigate whether a family lived in the school district that they claimed to.
There's a BBC News article here with some interesting analysis.
You might take note of this quote from David Cameron: "For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'." So what is he saying? In future, instead of being 'passively tolerant', we will be actively intolerant? Even if we obey the law, the state will not leave us alone?
The purpose of the legislation is apparently to uphold "fundamental British values including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs"; I fear that its effect will be to trample all over them. The banning and disruption orders, for example, seem very reminiscent of those employed by the apartheid regime in South Africa to silence its opponents.
I have not yet seen any online petitions relating to this legislation; they probably will start circulating once the details are known. Again, if you are at all concerned about the possible effects of this, write to your MP.
3. The "snoopers' charter"
This is legislation first proposed by the Conservative part of the Coalition, and promptly shot down by the LibDems. Now that our rulers are no longer restrained by their coalition partners, it's immediately surfaced again. The effect will be to require ISPs to retain complete records of all our internet use and communications, and to provide them to the state on demand. It's a sort of super-RIPA, and no doubt subject to exactly the same sort of misuse.
Also, there's a distinct possibility that encryption of internet communications will be banned, so that all our online banking and purchases will be subject to interception by anyone who feels like it. Hello criminals, here, have my credit card and my bank account!
As above, I haven't yet seen any petitions; write to your MP.
Altogether, this seems like a perfect storm for human rights in the UK: the extremism/thoughtcrime legislation will enable the state to decide to gag us, the "snoopers' charter" will enable them to gather up everything we say online, and the repeal of the Human Rights Act will enable the state to decide what our rights are and prevent any recourse beyond the UK legal system.
Behind all this is lurking outrage at our antiquated and grossly unrepresentative electoral system. It seems to me that in a representative democracy such as the UK claims to be, the electoral system should produce a legislature where the number of seats obtained by parties is broadly proportional to the votes cast for those parties. This is even more important where the executive is derived from the legislature rather than elected separately.
Instead, here, 37% of the votes cast (under a quarter of the total electorate) provided one party with over half the seats in the House of Commons. How can this possibly give the Conservatives a mandate to implement all the stuff I've just gone through, and much more besides? One of their proposals is that in a strike affecting public services, at least 40% of the relevant union members must vote in favour; how much more should this apply to the choice of a government which has complete control of public services?
If you feel that our electoral system ought to be genuinely representative, you can:
- Sign the Make Seats Match Votes petition (This is run jointly by the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy; note that it closes very soon, and will be presented to the Prime Minister on Monday 17th)
- Sign any of the other petitions circulating (e.g. change.org and 38 Degrees)
- Write to your MP expressing your concerns
- Join and be active in any or all of the Liberal Democrats, the Electoral Reform Society, Unlock Democracy, and any other organisation campaigning for electoral reform.
It's been a week since the general election polls closed, the BBC exit poll was published, and what I now regard as a nightmare began to unfold. At first it was just shock at a wholly unexpected Conservative victory delivered by our medieval electoral system. Since then it has turned into horror and fear that permanent damage is about to be done to our civil liberties and freedoms built up over centuries.
So, what am I so worried about?
1. Repeal of the Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Act incorporates directly into British law the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights - you know, minor things like the right not to be killed, the right not to be tortured, the right to a fair trial, the right to freedom of expression, and various others. This is a convention that we, the UK, were instrumental in getting established in the chaos of post-WWII Europe, and have been a signatory to since 1950. Our new rulers want to repeal this - as far as I can tell purely on the grounds that they have had their knuckles rapped by the European Court of Human Rights a few times and are now like a kid with its fingers in its ears saying "La la la, I don't have to listen to you". Withdrawing from the Convention would place us in company with such bastions of human rights as Belarus and Uzbekistan.
In place of the Human Rights Act, our rulers propose a "British Bill of Rights". This would apparently give us the same rights, except for the bits that our rulers don't like, of course, and without any right to appeal beyond the UK legal system. This feels to me dangerously like the thin end of a wedge: once the principle is established that the government can legislate our rights away just because it find them inconvenient, where does it stop?
If you would like to know more, I recommend an article by Dominic Grieve - he was Attorney General in the last government from 2010 to 2014, and there's a suspicion that he lost his job because he was opposed to the repeal of the Act. His article explores the history and workings of the Convention, and shoots down all the government's objections to it. He also sets out several positive reasons for retaining it. One particularly strikes me - that if we withdraw from the Convention ourselves, we lose all credibility in promoting human rights elsewhere in the world.
If you then feel inspired to work for the retention of the Act, you can:
- Sign Amnesty International's petition at http://keeptheact.uk/ (Doesn't this scare you? The world's foremost human rights organisation has decided it needs to run a campaign aimed at our government.) You can donate to Amnesty too.
- Sign any other petitions you find (I think there are several in circulation, and there might even be one on the government's own petitions website once that reopens)
- Write to your MP expressing your concern about the Human Rights Act and urging them to keep it. Our MPs will determine the fate of the Act; the more we tell them we want it, the more likely they are to keep it.
2. Anti-extremism legislation
Or, as I am now thinking of it, the "thoughtcrime" bill, since it will effectively introduce George Orwell's concept from "1984" into British law. As I understand it, our rulers will determine what are acceptable and unacceptable thoughts and opinions, and will gag anyone who expresses unacceptable opinions. This is put forward to us on the grounds of suppressing the spread of violent extremism, but I fear it will once again be the thin end of a wedge - the history of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (usually know as RIPA) shows that a power once granted to the executive for ostensibly good reasons can easily be extended to cases far beyond those it was originally expected to cover. RIPA was introduced on the basis of enabling the security services to fight terrorism and other serious crimes; it has since been used to seize journalists' source information and to investigate whether a family lived in the school district that they claimed to.
There's a BBC News article here with some interesting analysis.
You might take note of this quote from David Cameron: "For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'." So what is he saying? In future, instead of being 'passively tolerant', we will be actively intolerant? Even if we obey the law, the state will not leave us alone?
The purpose of the legislation is apparently to uphold "fundamental British values including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs"; I fear that its effect will be to trample all over them. The banning and disruption orders, for example, seem very reminiscent of those employed by the apartheid regime in South Africa to silence its opponents.
I have not yet seen any online petitions relating to this legislation; they probably will start circulating once the details are known. Again, if you are at all concerned about the possible effects of this, write to your MP.
3. The "snoopers' charter"
This is legislation first proposed by the Conservative part of the Coalition, and promptly shot down by the LibDems. Now that our rulers are no longer restrained by their coalition partners, it's immediately surfaced again. The effect will be to require ISPs to retain complete records of all our internet use and communications, and to provide them to the state on demand. It's a sort of super-RIPA, and no doubt subject to exactly the same sort of misuse.
Also, there's a distinct possibility that encryption of internet communications will be banned, so that all our online banking and purchases will be subject to interception by anyone who feels like it. Hello criminals, here, have my credit card and my bank account!
As above, I haven't yet seen any petitions; write to your MP.
Altogether, this seems like a perfect storm for human rights in the UK: the extremism/thoughtcrime legislation will enable the state to decide to gag us, the "snoopers' charter" will enable them to gather up everything we say online, and the repeal of the Human Rights Act will enable the state to decide what our rights are and prevent any recourse beyond the UK legal system.
Behind all this is lurking outrage at our antiquated and grossly unrepresentative electoral system. It seems to me that in a representative democracy such as the UK claims to be, the electoral system should produce a legislature where the number of seats obtained by parties is broadly proportional to the votes cast for those parties. This is even more important where the executive is derived from the legislature rather than elected separately.
Instead, here, 37% of the votes cast (under a quarter of the total electorate) provided one party with over half the seats in the House of Commons. How can this possibly give the Conservatives a mandate to implement all the stuff I've just gone through, and much more besides? One of their proposals is that in a strike affecting public services, at least 40% of the relevant union members must vote in favour; how much more should this apply to the choice of a government which has complete control of public services?
If you feel that our electoral system ought to be genuinely representative, you can:
- Sign the Make Seats Match Votes petition (This is run jointly by the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy; note that it closes very soon, and will be presented to the Prime Minister on Monday 17th)
- Sign any of the other petitions circulating (e.g. change.org and 38 Degrees)
- Write to your MP expressing your concerns
- Join and be active in any or all of the Liberal Democrats, the Electoral Reform Society, Unlock Democracy, and any other organisation campaigning for electoral reform.
44
Discussion and Debate - The Philosopher's Plaza / UK Electoral Reform
« on: May 08, 2015, 06:54:02 PM »
In light of the general election results, I think this is worth a thread of its own. There seems to be a lot of interest in electoral reform now - here are some things you can do to try to make it happen. Obviously this is for people in the UK only.
There are several online petitions in progress - I've found these in my own Facebook feed; there are probably more besides.
- Make Seats Match Votes (jointly run by the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy, see below)
- Change.org
- 38 Degrees
- Avaaz (already posted by Colossus)
The Government e-petitions site is not currently accepting petitions, due to the general election (ironic!), but it says it will be back soon, and I expect that one or more relevant petitions will be created.
Longer term, requiring more effort, but possibly having more effect, I would suggest:
1. Writing to your MP, and encouraging friends and family to do so;
2. Joining and becoming active in any or all of:
- the Liberal Democrats (electoral reform has been party policy for many years)
- the Electoral Reform Society
- Unlock Democracy (a campaign for wider constitutional change, but apparently with a particular interest in electoral reform)
There are several online petitions in progress - I've found these in my own Facebook feed; there are probably more besides.
- Make Seats Match Votes (jointly run by the Electoral Reform Society and Unlock Democracy, see below)
- Change.org
- 38 Degrees
- Avaaz (already posted by Colossus)
The Government e-petitions site is not currently accepting petitions, due to the general election (ironic!), but it says it will be back soon, and I expect that one or more relevant petitions will be created.
Longer term, requiring more effort, but possibly having more effect, I would suggest:
1. Writing to your MP, and encouraging friends and family to do so;
2. Joining and becoming active in any or all of:
- the Liberal Democrats (electoral reform has been party policy for many years)
- the Electoral Reform Society
- Unlock Democracy (a campaign for wider constitutional change, but apparently with a particular interest in electoral reform)
45
Writing, Poems, AARs, and Stories - The Storyteller's Hall / Clancy of "The Overflow"
« on: April 19, 2015, 10:23:39 PM »
This is a poem, but not by me (and therefore it might belong in another area of the forum). It might well be familiar to Australians, since it's by an Australian poet, but probably not to people elsewhere. It compares the life of a cattle drover in the bush with an office worker - the full text is available in various places, including the University of Adelaide, and Project Gutenberg (choose the HTML version; in that scroll down to the Contents, or the poem itself). There's also a Wikipedia article about it.
It's one of very poems that has stuck with me - I don't read much poetry. I found it written on a display on the wall of a pub in Perth (Western Australia), in 2007. I was at the end of a six-week holiday, touring Australia and New Zealand, and the words seemed to encapsulate a lot of my experience. This verse in particular summed up a lot of the sights and sounds of natural Australia, and implied the scents as well:
And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wond’rous glory of the everlasting stars.
I had seen the "plains extended" (and also mountains, coastlines, tropical jungle, and coral reefs), and heard the voices, kindly or not, of assorted wildlife. The scent of gum trees (eucalyptus) brings back immediate memories from many parts of the holiday. The Southern Hemisphere night sky is indeed "wond'rous", especially when seen from somewhere out of reach of street-lights.
And only a few days later, I would be back in the office, to face the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal, or at least programming the accounting software that handles them now.
It's one of very poems that has stuck with me - I don't read much poetry. I found it written on a display on the wall of a pub in Perth (Western Australia), in 2007. I was at the end of a six-week holiday, touring Australia and New Zealand, and the words seemed to encapsulate a lot of my experience. This verse in particular summed up a lot of the sights and sounds of natural Australia, and implied the scents as well:
And the bush hath friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him
In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wond’rous glory of the everlasting stars.
I had seen the "plains extended" (and also mountains, coastlines, tropical jungle, and coral reefs), and heard the voices, kindly or not, of assorted wildlife. The scent of gum trees (eucalyptus) brings back immediate memories from many parts of the holiday. The Southern Hemisphere night sky is indeed "wond'rous", especially when seen from somewhere out of reach of street-lights.
And only a few days later, I would be back in the office, to face the round eternal of the cash-book and the journal, or at least programming the accounting software that handles them now.