Archive for the ‘US current affairs’ Category
10 things most Americans don’t know about America
May 1st, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I have only just come across this lengthy but perceptive blog posting by an American who sets out a lot of truths that will be uncomfortable to many Americans. The author of the piece, Mark Manson, is clearly an atypical American. We know this because he writes that he has visited over 40 countries – [...]
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How well treated are children in your country?
April 11th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
An important measure of how civilised is a country is how well that nation treats its most vulnerable citizens, its children. The UN agency UNICEF periodically publishes league tables on this issue. This week it has published its latest report. The key table – on the frst page of text – ranks 29 developed countries [...]
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America’s health (dis)advantage
April 9th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
I have done a posting in the recent past about how America spends so much on healthcare and yet its citizens have such poor health outcomes compared to many other developed countries. My attention has now been drawn to a brilliant infographic which sets out these issues very clearly and identifies the major reasons why [...]
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So the US has now gone over the fiscal cliff – but the world does not seem to have noticed
March 2nd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
The cuts – known as the sequester and drawn up two years ago – will take $85 billion (£56 billion) from the United States federal budget this year. This will hit the American economy and in turn the world economy, so the failure of Congress to agree a more sensible tax and cuts package will [...]
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From Israel to Italy, democracy is complicated
February 26th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Israel has one of the simplest political systems in the democratic world [my explanation here] – a single legislative chamber and a national list method for electing it – and yet the outcome of the recent general election on 22 January was so messy that five weeks later the country does still not have a [...]
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When did Mississippi ratify the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery?
February 22nd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
If you’re American, you probably know the answer to this question. But, if you live anywhere else in the world, the answer may well surprise you.
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Why capitalism needs fundamental reform
February 3rd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
One of the most frequently occurring political themes of this blog is that we live in societies where income, wealth and power are distributed massively unevenly and unfairly and this creates poverty and unhappiness at the individual level and terrible social outcomes at the national and international level. Therefore I was pleased to see a [...]
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Why do so many Americans believe so much nonsense?
January 28th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
According to results from a recent Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind Poll, 63% of registered voters in the United States buy into at least one political conspiracy theory. The nationwide survey of registered voters asked Americans to evaluate four different political conspiracy theories: 56 % of Democrats and 75 % of Republicans say that at least one is [...]
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How much greater is the American gun murder rate than that in Britain?
January 26th, 2013 by Roger Darlington
Twice? Three times? Four times? You may find this hard to believe but the answer is 32 times. Don’t believe me? Check out the graph on this web page. Time for stronger gun controls in the US. Go for it, Barack.
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President Barack Obama’s second inauguration speech
January 22nd, 2013 by Roger Darlington
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