My favourite quote from the week of WikiLeaks
December 4th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
“We don’t think this information was leaked. We think it was organised to be released on a regular basis and they are pursuing political goals.”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran
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Combating child slavery
December 3rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The numbers around child slavery and exploitation are simply staggering and there aren’t enough people fighting back.
More than 150 million children younger than 14 years-old are child labourers – one in six children in the world. Those children do hazardous work in mines or on farms, often handling chemicals and pesticides or working near dangerous machinery. Others toil as domestic servants in homes or workshops.
Another 300,000 children under 18 are child soldiers used as combatants, messengers, porters, cooks, or sexual servants in some 30 conflicts worldwide. They are most often forcibly recruited or abducted, or feel so helpless and overwhelmed by poverty they are driven to join the fight.
Girls are particularly vulnerable. Some as young as 13 are trafficked as “mail-order brides.” Nearly 90% of domestic workers trafficked in West and Central Africa are girls.
It’s an epidemic that isn’t receiving enough attention from governments worldwide. You can help to change that here.
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Salman Khan and his 1800 lessons
December 2nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
A friend of mind – whose daughter recently left school to go to university – has drawn (pun intended) my attention to this great web site where the American educator Salman Khan has made available some 1800 bite-sized lessons.
I’ve been reading a lot about evolution recently and have just viewed the lesson on the process of natural selection.
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How should we tax income?
December 1st, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Earlier this week, I had a lively economic debate over dinner with two young Right-wing friends.
They are both broadly supportive of the Laffer curve which suggests that, above a certain percentage rate, tax on income produces a lower yield and they believe that in many Western economies we are already beyond that rate so consequently government should reduce tax rates and this would increase tax revenues.
At the theoretical level, I am always suspicious of neat relationships in the real world suggested by academic economists. I remember the Phillips curve for instance. Furthermore proponents of the Laffer curve differ wildly on the tax rate beyond which the tax yield falls with estimates varying from around 35% to 70%.
I am highly sceptical of the utility of the Laffer curve. It presupposes that very high earners are incentivised by higher take-home pay and that they would not work for salaries where most of the marginal increase in income is taken by tax. I suspect that, beyond a certain of level income, increases in take-home pay are not that important and that such high earners like excessive gross salaries – regardless of the marginal rate of tax – because it is a symbol of their status and power.
Clearly, however, high marginal rates of tax are likely to stimulate tax evasion and I just wish that we would put as much effort into combating tax evasion – by individuals and corporations – as we should do in combating benefit fraud.
My friends are also in favour of a flat rate income tax rather than a progressive rate tax regime. Unless we had a much narrower distribution of incomes, I would be opposed to a flat tax on social equity grounds. Flat tax is regressive. Those with lower incomes tend to pay a higher proportion of their income in total taxes than the affluent do. It should be the reverse.
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Now we have snow too
November 30th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Here in London, we often have winters with no snow at all. When we do have snow, it is in January or February. But it’s the last day of November and now, like most of Britain, we have snow.
At least the snow waited until the conclusion yesterday of the fourth tube strike in as many months. That really would have been a tough combination for London commuters to tackle.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (1)
What’s the coldest you’ve known?
November 29th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Britain is experiencing a really cold spell which is unusual for this time of year. Snow has already fallen on northern parts of the country, it has now reached Leicester where my sister lives, and we are promised some in London where I live.
The coldest weather that I have personally experienced was one Christmas which I spent in Prague. The temperature fell to -18C and, when I went outside, my ears almost fell off in spite of all the covering.
I believe that parts of the UK have had similar temperatures in the last few days and, of course, in many parts of the world such cold is not unusual in winter. So what’s the coldest you’ve known?
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Word of the day: Pangaea
November 27th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Pangaea was the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago before the component continents were separated into their current configuration.
The name was coined in the scientific discussion of Alfred Wegener’s theory of the continental drift. The term Pangaea appeared in 1928 during a symposium to discuss Wegener’s theory.
The theory of continental drift has now been totally replaced by the notion of plate tectonics but there is growing evidence to substantiate the view that all continents were once linked together.
Further information here.
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Is there intelligent life beyond Earth?
November 26th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I have been reading “The Greatest Show On Earth”, the evidence for evolution presented by Richard Dawkins. Towards the very end of the book, he offers the most succinct and likely answer to the question of life beyond our planet that I have see:
“My guess, for what it is worth (not much, because there are too many unknowns), is that life is very rare, but that the number of planets is so large (more are being discovered all the time) that we are probably not alone, and there may be millions of islands of life in the universe. Nevertheless, even millions of islands could still be so far apart that they have almost no chance of ever encountering one another, even by radio. Sadly, as far as practicalities are concerned, we might as well be alone.”
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The Republicans and global warming
November 25th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The greatest contribution to global warming is made by the United States whose House of Representatives is now controlled by the Republic Party following the rise of Tea Party fervour. So read this and weep:
“A 53%-majority of Republicans say there is no solid evidence the earth is warming. Among Tea Party Republicans, fully 70% say there is no evidence. Disbelief in global warming in the GOP is a recent occurrence. Just a few years ago, in 2007, a 62%-majority of Republicans said there is solid evidence of global warming, while less than a third (31%) said there is no solid evidence.
Currently, just 38% of Republicans say there is solid evidence the earth is warming, and only 16% say that warming is caused by human activity. In 2007, three-in-ten Republicans said global warming was the result of human activity. Also, by nearly a two-to-one margin, Republicans say scientists do not agree that the earth is getting warmer because of human activity. Few Republicans see global warming as a very serious problem (14%) or in need of immediate government action (24%).”
More information here.
Posted in Environment | Comments (0)
The hidden side of China’s economic boom
November 25th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
This is an extract from the latest edition of the “China Labour Bulletin”:
“The Chinese government last week announced a series of measures to stabilize rapidly increasing food prices.
The new measures, which include boosting supplies of staples from government stockpiles, providing additional subsidies to needy families, and cracking down on speculators, clearly indicate the government’s concern over rising inflation and the effect it might have on social stability. In some regions of China, the prices of rice, cooking oil and some vegetables have doubled this year, creating a serious burden for China’s lowest paid workers and impoverished rural families.
Local governments across China raised the minimum wage by an average of 24 percent this year, but already those gains are being eroded by increases in the cost of food and accommodation. One of the main complaints of striking workers at Sanyo in Shenzhen this month, for example, was that the price of food at the company canteen had quadrupled immediately after their basic wage went up inline with the minimum wage.
Next month, the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De Schutter, will lead an official mission to China. Professor De Schutter is a strong proponent of the idea that fair wages are essential to ensuring equal and adequate access to food, and he will be particularly interested to discover whether or not disadvantaged workers in China can negotiate and obtain a decent wage.”
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