gdp's Comments

Heresy Corner : The Jihadist

Wed, 20 Aug 2014 15:43:34 +0000

Excellent. Begs the question, If patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, where does that leave religion?

Heresy Corner : Breast is best

Fri, 11 Apr 2014 08:06:44 +0000

I hope you'll find this post thought provoking on the Libertarian perspective http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/10...

Heresy Corner : \"Forced Caesarian\": the Mother\'s story, and the Judge\'s

Thu, 27 Mar 2014 11:33:12 +0000

Nearly four months with no posts. Got to say I'm missing some intelligent thoughts on the issues of the day

Heresy Corner : What David Cameron can learn from schoolgirls and soccer moms

Fri, 22 Nov 2013 11:49:08 +0000

Presumably this crusade is about conviction. “Dave, the election is coming ever closer but you’re not seen as believable by the electorate. We need to find an issue where you can be seen to express complete conviction, something that lends itself to core values, to virtues, which will speak to our likely voters, and which is difficult to argue against…….. I know! Internet Porn is bad! Try taking the other side of that one ha ha ha”

Heresy Corner : Selling Downton to the Chinese

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 13:38:21 +0000

Completely off topic, but this is a powerful post from a Romani blogger on the Maria case http://pipopotamus.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/how-do-...

Heresy Corner : Selling Downton to the Chinese

Tue, 15 Oct 2013 10:59:35 +0000

The XFactor is an export of FremantleMedia (UK) and the general export of TV formats was worth about £590m in 2010 The British have been a powerhouse in the sector, but facing increasing competition http://www.economist.com/node/21536602

Heresy Corner : Selling Downton to the Chinese

Mon, 14 Oct 2013 15:29:53 +0000

I’d suggest that our last cultural export to have global impact was House music. Having laid waste to dance floors from Beijing to Bahrain and Boston I can attest to the significance of its reach. Granted the movement started in Chicago, and has drawn in influences from all over, but this was truly a British revolution in music tastes and entertainment. It has gained dominance throughout Europe, growing influence beyond, and sure as hell owes nothing to cosy nostalgia. Mind you, I don’t know if the dollar value in the balance of payments holds a candle to Downtown, but you’d have to have a heart of stone to put a price tag on everything!

Heresy Corner : Why a decline in smoking led to the smoking ban

Wed, 9 Oct 2013 08:16:30 +0000

That’s just being wilfully obtuse. I’ll direct your attention to “You'll notice that the big decline took place in the seventies and eighties, long before the ban on tobacco advertising which was introduced in 2002, let alone the ban on smoking in public places (2006) or the introduction of graphic "warning" images on all packs in 2008.”

Heresy Corner : Why a decline in smoking led to the smoking ban

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 16:29:06 +0000

Indeed for what it’s worth here’s an article on pubs in the Czech Republic (which has no ban) voluntarily adopting one, and the business case behind it. http://www.praguepost.com/business/13355-are-prag... I haven’t been able to find information on whether similar countries without smoking bans have noticed a similar decline in pubs, but here’s a list of the countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans... and I’d suggest that if they have, the social/technological factors are likely to be the prevalent force.

Heresy Corner : Why a decline in smoking led to the smoking ban

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 08:25:21 +0000

Which is not to say that I can prove I’m right, or demonstrate the impact split between the smoking ban, booze prices & home entertainment systems, but anecdotally none of my (almost universally smoking) mates back in Dublin had a big issue with the smoking ban when it was brought in there (earlier) – in fact outside the pub door became the best place to chat up women, which certainly sugared the pill, and even they would admit that the pub had a nicer environment (though one of the major clubs in town was way nastier once you could actually smell it, the smoke having down sterling work dampening the stench up to that point).

Heresy Corner : Why a decline in smoking led to the smoking ban

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 08:25:14 +0000

Personally I suspect that the rise of home entertainment had much more to do with it. Not long ago if you didn’t fancy what was on the four channels that night & weren’t interested in reading, there weren’t many options beyond heading down to the local. How things have changed. With online gaming, facebook, hundreds of channels covering every niche taste, Sky + & tivo, downloading content, skype, broadband, massive HD TV’s & media systems who needs to go to the pub? Even has a young successful man living in a great part of London you were way more likely to catch me playing online with my mates than in the (lovely) boozer two doors down. And cinemas have gone the same way for the same reason. (split)

Heresy Corner : David Attenborough\'s Population Problem

Thu, 19 Sep 2013 11:29:06 +0000

I can have a certain amount of sympathy for Attenbourghs perspective give the impact he’s personally witnessed of massive population expansion over the years in the third world. In large parts East Africa cattle = wealth, and as scientific advances have trickled in the resultant population & livestock explosion has stripped the land bare. He’ll have seen it over the decades with his own eyes, and that’s a hard thing to rationalise away. However, as humanity urbanises (a global phenomenon) birth rates go down, and extra hands for the fields just become extra mouths in the absence of fields. The population is self-correcting in those places where women have control over their fertility, and in the large areas where they don’t, infant mortality rates tend to be very high. Urbanisation will solve the population ‘problem’, and science will address the needs of feeding that population. There will certainly be continued pressure on clean water reserves, but given the amount of water that gets squandered through inefficient use, and the continuing advances in desalination technologies, we’ll certainly manage to muddle through once incompetence & stupidity are tamed by need.

Heresy Corner : Coming out in Barnsley

Mon, 9 Sep 2013 08:50:29 +0000

I would encourage everyone to take the same approach to ethnicity questions. Genetics have proved race to be an artificial construct of only the most skin deep features, and I’ll be damned if I’ll assign myself to a box labelled with a dead concept for the convenience of the diversity industry.

Heresy Corner : In Syria, the right thing to do may be the wrong thing to do

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 13:05:59 +0000

By the way, this is a post from an ex bomb disposal officer on the topic of chemical weapons that merits reading http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/09/my_last_w...

Heresy Corner : In Syria, the right thing to do may be the wrong thing to do

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 09:07:57 +0000

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/international/... Quality!

Heresy Corner : In Syria, the right thing to do may be the wrong thing to do

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 08:28:07 +0000

There’s nothing to be achieved by intervening in Syria other than a fleeting moment of righteous retribution and gravitas in the headlines. Personally I agree with this post from March about chemical weapons http://kingsofwar.org.uk/2013/03/the-red-line-of-...

Heresy Corner : Joan Edwards\' intentions

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 15:24:57 +0000

I picked up a will kit for about £15 from the office - all it took was about half an hour, and some precise wording in the formula for the division of assets. It encourages you to use addresses for all names recipients, which would clearly have settled this affair. I’d encourage all of you to grab one & take an hour to draft a will if you haven’t already. Just decide beforehand what the division is, and the drafting side is a doddle.

Heresy Corner : The Gospel According to David Cameron

Fri, 9 Aug 2013 15:40:55 +0000

You've got a heart of stone if number five didn't raise a smile!

Heresy Corner : Why do so many Nobel laureates look like Richard Dawkins?

Fri, 9 Aug 2013 08:17:56 +0000

The scientific method flowered in a profoundly Christian Europe, just as previously scientific enquiry was severely retarded in an even more fervently Christian Europe. The difference between those two times was the simple “Will I be killed in the street if I say something that goes against prevailing dogma?” test. And that is the difference today between The Muslim world, China, Latin America, women, and Africa. Care to take a bet on whether more Nobel’s will be awarded to China/Women or the Muslim World over the next ten years? That’s his point. Whatever the scores so far, we can predict with a huge degree of confidence that those who live under one book (and only one book) will produce bugger all that progresses the human race.

Heresy Corner : Pope Francis - making saints up as he goes along

Mon, 8 Jul 2013 08:38:32 +0000

Christopher Hitchens actually served as a Devils Advocate for the Beatification of Mother Teresa. His experience showed clearly how bankrupt the whole procedure is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WQ0i3nCx60