We have been there so many times - by Richard... Tuesday, November 16, 2010

We have been there so many times - by Richard... Tuesday, November 16, 2010

It is not exactly the "boy crying wolf" syndrome, although we have been regaled with so many stories of the imminent collapse of the euro – and predicted the same ourselves – that we struggle to hope that this time it is for real.

However, the indomitable Ambrose is certainly ladling it on thick, with his talk of contagion hitting Portugal as the stresses spilling out from Ireland take hold.

Confusion, ill-will, acrimony and even panic seem to be dominating proceedings, and for once we seem to have the "colleagues" thrashing around with very little idea of what to do and how to manage the situation. There is a whiff of the euroslime having lost control.

On top of that, at 12.06 am, we had Reuters reporting that the budget talks between the EU parliament and the Council had "collapsed" - "threatening to throw EU financial planning into chaos and boding ill for the bloc's ability to reach deals", says the agency.

Generally speaking, it is very bad form to derive too much enjoyment from the misfortunes of others but, in this case, we are happy to make an exception, especially as Merkel is signalling that collapse of the euro could bring down her beloved "Europe". With the collapse of the budget talks providing a happy precedent, it just begins to look as if we can once again live in hope.

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The end of popular science - by Richard...

The complaint was reported here and the detail is here.

The response, just received, is below – in JPEG format as the PCC file will not allow copy and paste (click to enlarge).

I am not surprised by the findings, which stem from the key statement by the PCC, as follows (pg 5):

The complainant said that the correction was inaccurate and misleading by stating that the "IPCC's statement is supported by peer-reviewed scientific evidence" because it was not "supported" in the sense which is accepted by scientific convention. However, the Commission was of the view that the newspaper (Sunday Times) was entitled to express the correction in layman's terms. The Commission noted that the newspaper was able to demonstrate that peer reviewed studies existed which, arguably, could be said to "support" the thrust of the IPCC's statement in a more general sense.

...

The correction did not claim that the IPAM research had been properly referenced or was in itself peer-reviewed.

In effect, the Commission is claiming that there are two meanings of the word "supported" – the strict, scientific sense, which it does not dispute, and a hitherto unknown layman's definition. And, without even specifying which meaning it was relying on, the Sunday Times was permitted to rely on this layman's definition. To do so was neither inaccurate nor misleading.

The broader implications of this are rather interesting. Effectively, the Commission is branding newspapers as "lay" publications, which are thus permitted to use (and rely on) layman's terms, the meanings of which are not recognised by science. And if the words they use do not conform with general scientific meanings, what their journalists write and what they publish has no scientific value whatsoever.

This is the end of popular science as we know it. You might as well buy comics (or nothing at all).

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Nothing is true - by Richard... Monday, November 15, 2010

... until it has been denied by a minister. And it certainly looksto be true that Ireland's financial ordeal is far from over.

But it seems that it is going to cost us a fortune, thus adding very little to our happiness index. By my reckoning, if the population of Eire id about five million, that works out as a gift of £2,000 from the British taxpayer to every man, woman and child in the Emerald Isle.

As the talk generally is of Ireland needing a £70 billion bail-out, this works out at £14,000 per Irish head, which is an awful lot of debt for one very small country to cover – somewhat underlining the scale of the mess their politicians have created.

Meanwhile, with more details about Greece emerging, we are told that the EU is spending £850 million of taxpayers' money constructing a new HQ for translators and lawyers. The building in Luxembourg will house support staff for the EU Commission and Parliament - which are based in Brussels and Strasbourg.
Due to be completed by 2016, the 3.1 million sq ft building will add to the almost 25 million sq ft EU officials already occupy in the three cities.

The contrast, one with the other, points up what we are having to deal with – public profligacy and incompetence, with the taxpayers having to pick up the tab. There is fast coming the time when we are going to have to rise up and slaughter them. We are truly domed.

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Unfair to satirists - by Richard...

Every time this man opens his mouth, another thousand satirists bite the dust – unable to compete in an environment where real life is more bizarre than you could hope to invent.

But if Euroslime Dave really wants to know what would make us happy – which I seriously doubt – he would have to do just one small thing. It is a three-letter word. Foxtrot Oscar is another clue, to something that you cannot be polite about, or even begin to address rationally.

Speaking at the Google Zeitgeist Europe conference, this barking fool says: "Wellbeing can't be measured by money or traded in markets. It's about the beauty of our surroundings, the quality of our culture and, above all, the strength of our relationships. Improving our society's sense of wellbeing is, I believe, the central political challenge of our times."

One is staggered, however, to learn that almost 30 MPs have signed an EDM calling for the move, arguing that ''promoting happiness and well-being is a legitimate and important goal of government''.

What these little muppets don't seem to realise is that the greatest single contribution they could make to our wellbeing is to cease to exist. Failing that, a good start if they tried to avoid going out of their ways to piss us off with such gay abandon.

But that it just a start. The truth is that, like a three-headed dog with rabies, any politician dipping into this pond is beyond redemption. We are domed.

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