The worst ever?
Open Thread
May 21, 2007 9:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/open_thread/2007/05/the_worst_ever.html
If Jimmy Carter has proved one thing, it's that a former US president
doesn't have to go quietly into the night. And on Saturday, the Nobel
Prize winning 82-year-old was anything but quiet. When asked by the
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper how the Bush presidency stacked up
against that of Richard Nixon, Carter had this following to say: "I
think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world,
this administration has been the worst in history."
Proving that it still has a flair for public relations, the White
House responded on Sunday by calling Carter "increasingly irrelevant"
and dismissing his comments as pointless and off the mark.
What zombies say about Iraq
Spencer Ackerman
May 22, 2007 9:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/spencer_ackerman/2007/05/28_weeks_later=
..html
28 Weeks Later really shouldn't have flirted with an Iraq allegory.
Unfortunately, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's sequel to 28 Days Later - the
fantastic 2002 thriller about a "rage virus" that turns the British
into a marauding horde of flesh-crazed zombies - couldn't resist
calling the zombie-free section of London occupied by US troops the
Green Zone. For a variety of reasons, 28 Weeks Later doesn't really
make sense as an Iraq movie, so it's probably just a cheap
association. But the invocation of the US's increasingly permeable
citadel in Baghdad makes it difficult to avoid reading the movie as a
statement about Iraq. So be it. It's a stretch, but the statement the
movie makes about Iraq is probably this: kill everyone, or stand back
and let them kill each other.
(Spoiler warning: If you haven't seen 28 Weeks Later but would like
to, you'd better move on to some of CiF's other content. Can I
recommend Robin Blackburn's piece about Gordon Brown needing a modus
vivendi with the Lib Dems?)
Housing race
Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
May 22, 2007 9:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dhananjayan_sriskandarajah/2007/05/hous=
ing_race.html
Margaret Hodge is right that London's white working class are
demanding social housing in greater quantity than is available. But
she is wrong to think that communities can be made more cohesive or
equal by allocating housing on the basis of a "sense of entitlement"
over genuine need. Her argument that an "indigenous" extended family
should be housed ahead of a recently arrived refugee family with
children suffering from asthma in a damp and overcrowded flat, risks
damaging race relations and shows an ignorance of housing policy.
While Barking and Dagenham has recently experienced significant growth
in the numbers of people born outside Britain, there is little
evidence to show that these newcomers are actually to blame for the
area's housing pressures. In fact, many of the largest categories of
immigrants do not qualify for or need social housing.
Silent protest
Mabel van Oranje and Natasha Kandic
May 22, 2007 8:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mabel_van_oranje_and_natasha_kandic/200=
7/05/appeasing_serbia_by_mabel_van.html
This month has been a bad one for the cause of human rights in Europe,
as Serbia was allowed to begin its six-month presidency of the Council
of Europe, the continent's oldest political body. With Serbia at the
helm, the council, which aims to promote human rights and the rule of
law, is now overseen by a state that thumbs its nose at the genocide
convention and harbours an indicted war crimes suspect, former Bosnian
Serb army chief Ratko Mladic. Moreover, the European commission has
indicated that it is ready to resume talks aimed at bringing Serbia
closer to the European Union as soon as a reform-oriented government
is formed in Belgrade.
Earlier this year, the international court of justice (ICJ) found
Serbia guilty of failing to prevent the massacre of more than 7,000
Bosnian Muslim men in Srebrenica. The court also declared that Serbia
will remain in violation of the genocide convention until it transfers
Mladic - who is believed responsible for some of the worst crimes in
Europe since the second world war - to the international criminal
tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
Recalling the Falklands
Quintin Wright
May 22, 2007 7:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/quintin_wright/2007/05/recalling_the_fa=
lklands.html
Glass doors, white space, a big map with arrows explaining where we
went and why ... This is the Falklands exhibition at the Imperial War
Museum in London. Not what I expected, but then we were only a small
cog, and so the Saatchi-esque entrance is more the big shiny
enterprise.
Anyway, why do I mind? I agreed with our mission - which is repeated
here in six-inch letters right at the entrance, just in case you were
confused about why we travelled 7,600 miles to spank a naughty
erstwhile historical ally. All very posh! But I'm proud, too: I was
expecting a small dingy corner somewhere, with incorrect captions on
everything - like John Humphreys on Monday's BBC Radio 4's Today
calling Brigadier General Thomson a commodore: what a numpty! This is
quite a different experience.
Dealing with the worst
Bruce Ackerman
May 21, 2007 10:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/bruce_ackerman/2007/05/worst_cases.html
Tony Blair and George Bush are both discredited, but only the British
system has managed to arrange a not-so-graceful exit. While Blair
makes way reluctantly for Gordon Brown, Bush will be contemptuous of
public opinion for 18 more months.
This contrast challenges conventional wisdom. British prime ministers
are supposed to be powerhouses while American presidents are weakened
by the constant pressure of checks and balances. This bit of Anglo-
American lore contains a grain of truth during normal times, but it is
completely false during the worst of times, when a leader suffers a
collapse of popular support.
With friends like these
Ben Whitford
May 21, 2007 9:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ben_whitford/2007/05/with_friends_like_=
these.html
It's not just the US that gets to have wiretapping scandals; this week
the Colombian government admitted that the country's Directorate of
Intelligence had been conducting illegal wiretaps of opposition
leaders and journalists. The same day, the country's supreme court
ordered the arrests of five more politicians on suspicion of
conspiring with paramilitary organisations. Then, to cap it all, a
paramilitary leader testified that the country's vice-president and
defence minister both had ties to his group.
The perfect storm of scandal couldn't have been worse timed for
Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe, who's currently fighting to
convince Washington that his country deserves to be awarded a free
trade agreement. During a flying earlier this month, Uribe spent the
bulk of his time not at the White House - where his pal George Bush
was on hand to hail him as "a true democrat, a strong leader, and a
friend" - but up on the Hill, where the atmosphere was decidedly less
cordial.
Getting connected
Antony Loewenstein
May 21, 2007 8:40 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/antony_loewenstein/2007/05/cuba_is_the_=
least_technologica.html
Cuba is the least technologically connected country in Latin America,
falling way behind in mobile phone and internet penetration. The
Castro regime has blamed the long-standing US embargo for the
communication restrictions - and must utilise satellite technology as
a result - but the situation is far more complicated than the
government likes to publicly admit. For example, Cubans are required
to obtain a permit to buy a computer or subscribe to an ISP, therefore
making regular contact with the outside world a virtual impossibility
for the vast majority of citizens.
During a recent visit to the island, I discovered that although access
to the internet has improved since a crackdown in 2004, some Cubans
are frustrated by their government's unwillingness to allow unfettered
access to the web. Many young Cubans can use an intranet with an email
address and government-approved websites, but this is hardly a
replacement for the real thing. One student in Havana, who was
studying IT and the internet, told me that he and his friends were
increasingly angry that the authorities did not allow them to
experience the web in its unfiltered glory.
Conquering the internet frontier
Jeff Jarvis
May 21, 2007 8:20 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeff_jarvis/2007/05/conquering_the_inte=
rnet_frontier.html
In the US, the left is declaring victory ... in the battle to win the
internet. The Washington Post today declares a digital divide between
Democrat and Republican online. I just got off the phone with a BBC
reporter working on a story with a similar premise. They wonder
whether the GOP has a prayer of catching up and whether there's
something inherent in their character that would prevent them from
doing so.
But I say that the web efforts of all parties are so far pathetic. At
the Personal Democracy Forum conference in New York on Friday, the
assembled politicogeeks agreed that no one in this race has embraced
technology in the disruptive manner Howard Dean did in his advanced
but otherwise losing campaign in 2004. This is a race of tortoise v
tortoise. And it's typically US-centric of us to ignore the greater
strides made online in the UK, France, and Germany - by the right, as
it happens, in all three.
Making Barking mad
Jon Cruddas
May 21, 2007 8:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jon_cruddas/2007/05/making_barking_mad.=
html
Margaret Hodge has made some high-profile comments at the weekend
about immigrants and asylum seekers being prioritised for social
housing, which, she said, was contributing to racial tensions.
Although the issues of migration and housing deserve attention and are
indeed connected, the terms in which they were presented in this
article are not only wrong; they are also inflammatory.
In my view, the lack of affordable housing is the outstanding public
policy issue and the failure of successive governments to build new
council and social housing has been complicit in fuelling the housing
crisis. While it is true to say that demographic changes, including
migration, but also the growth in single-person households and family
break-up, have contributed to housing costs, it is not true to say
they are the consequences of migration.
Double standards in the diaspora
Seth Freedman
May 21, 2007 7:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/seth_freedman/2007/05/double_standards_=
in_the_diaspora.html
That the decidedly unwarlike Alex should be taking up arms for the
country is something I've become used to in the fortnight since he
enlisted. He's been a citizen of Israel for nearly a year now and, as
it was for me, it is incumbent on him to spend a period of time in the
employ of the IDF in order to fulfil his duties to the state.
However - as I touched upon in A call to arms - there is another side
to the Israeli army which is somewhat harder to swallow, in terms of
who is serving and why. The "Gap Year Gunmen", as I call them, who
served alongside me in the Nahal infantry brigade before flying back
to continue their former lives in the Diaspora, are a source of equal
concern both to Israelis and foreign observers.
The question not asked
Brian Concannon
May 21, 2007 7:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_concannon/2007/05/the_question_no=
t_asked.html
The scandal over the salaries paid to World Bank president Paul
Wolfowitz's friends and lover opened the door to good questions about
both the bank and its president. Wolfowitz's resignation answered some
of them, but one of the best questions of all has yet to be asked: is
there a larger problem with an institution claiming to be "working for
a world free of poverty" paying those salaries to anyone?
The World Bank insiders who launched the scandal by revealing the
annual salaries of Mr Wolfowitz's domestic partner, Shaha Ali Riza
($193,590), and Bush Administration collaborators, Robin Cleveland and
Kevin Kellems ($250,000 and $240,000 respectively), have not raised
this question.
Let Bush go now, Blair
Anthony Giddens
May 21, 2007 6:38 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/anthony_giddens/2007/05/let_bush_go_now=
_blair.html
I'm not someone who has a T-shirt saying "Bliar!" on it. I don't
believe Tony Blair lied either in the run-up to the Iraq war or in its
aftermath. I can understand why he made the decision to go along with
the Americans. He has given the reasons often enough. In common with
the security services of every western country, he believed there were
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. UN sanctions were not working,
serving only to impoverish the country and in fact create widespread
starvation. International terrorism, symbolised and given murderous
form by 9/11, is far more menacing than the local forms of terrorism
with which we have long been familiar. 50,000 people could have died
in the attack on the Twin Towers, not just the 3,000 who did. Saddam
Hussein may have had no immediate connection with al-Qaida, but down
the line the two might very well have developed common cause.
What I can't grasp at all - much less sympathise with - is why he has
chosen to stay so close to George Bush, in such an uncritical way, for
so long. The Bush administration has been a disaster for America and a
disaster for the wider world. The US is in a far more vulnerable
position today, economically, politically and morally than it was
before President Bush came along. The limits of American military
power, in which the world once stood in awe, have been cruelly
exposed. With all its military might, the US cannot pacify even a
single medium-sized country. Politically and morally, American
influence has plummeted. For better or worse, we are much closer now
to a multi-polar world, but further away than ever from a stable one.
The war on terror, a misnomer from the beginning, is nowhere near
resolution.
Why fear Wi-Fi?
James Randerson
May 21, 2007 6:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/james_randerson/2007/05/why_fear_wifi.h=
tml
The Wi-Fi laptop that your daughter is using at school is pumping out
three times more radiation than a mobile phone base station. For any
parent, that is a profoundly worrying message, which explains the
almost blanket coverage today of the claim in tonight's edition of the
BBC's flagship documentary Panorama.
But it is utterly untrue. The claim is based on a spectacularly
disingenuous presentation of the facts. And the irresponsible way in
which the programme was promoted will have needlessly raised fears
among parents across the country. The documentary itself has already
been criticised by leading scientists as "grossly unscientific" and "a
scare story".
Pharming patients
Paul Farmer
May 21, 2007 5:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/paul_farmer/2007/05/pharming_patients.h=
tml
The prospect of a dedicated digital TV channel carrying "information"
about prescription drugs and run by the drugs' manufacturers pushes as
close to prohibited "direct to consumer advertising" as it is possible
to get. But why would people not want access to this information? The
answer lies primarily in the industry's track record - and in the real
information needs that it is unlikely to meet.
The industry has a tremendous influence over the prescription of
medicines. Promotional activities include deploying opinion leaders to
champion new drugs and place ghostwritten articles in clinical
journals, as well as more "traditional" hospitality, ads in clinical
journals, branded products and reps' visits. This pervasive and
persistent approach inevitably breeds scepticism over the reliability
of promotional information. The profits at stake for the companies are
huge. Scandals of over-hyped drugs and the downplaying of adverse
effects have added to, and perhaps justified, such scepticism.
A national identity crisis
Dave Hill
May 21, 2007 5:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/dave_hill/2007/05/a_national_identity_c=
risis.html
It doesn't open until tomorrow so I've yet to see How We Are, Tate
Britain's new exhibition of photographs of these British nations and
those who live in them. But the preview pundits seem clear about one
thing: the 500 snaps reveal that the concept of "Britishness" has long
been extremely tricky to define.
Well, thank your God for that. The more elusive some master narrative
of Britishness is, the less susceptible are we who live in Britain to
politicians who, for reasons both dodgy and dopey, hold forth about
the need for more Britishness - whatever it is - as though patriotism
and good citizenship are automatically the same thing.
Danny Pearl, the Hollywood version
Asra Nomani
May 21, 2007 4:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/asra_nomani/2007/05/danny_pearl_the_hol=
lywood_vers.html
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia - A black Lincoln Town Car pulled to a stop
in front of my 1970s aluminum siding home here in the West Virginia
hills. A door opened and a beaming senior PR executive of Paramount
Vantage, a division of Paramount Pictures, emerged, gliding across a
red doormat I'd laid out under the motion detector lights of my front
porch, a secret DVD in her hands.
The Hollywood media has to wait for the Cannes film festival for the
world debut tonight of "A Mighty Heart," the Michael Winterbottom film
that tells the story of the captivity and murder of journalist Danny
Pearl after September 11. But I was what they call a "go see". So last
week, the Paramount executive had traveled some 400 miles from New
York City to "go" to my house so I could "see" the film.
Watching over us
Henry Porter
May 21, 2007 4:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/henry_porter/2007/05/watching_over_us.h=
tml
When a senior policeman wonders if we are becoming an Orwellian
society, it's time to pay attention. Ian Readhead, Hampshire's Deputy
Chief Constable, has gone on record to say that the town of
Stockbridge in Hampshire is overreacting by installing a =C2=A310,000 CCTV
system, and that the only result will be to increase the sense of
authoritarian oppression that is spreading across Britain.
Congratulations to him for pointing out that the cameras have had no
effect whatsoever: in fact, crime has actually gone up since they were
installed.
Mr Redhead's statement is a sign that the penny is at last beginning
to drop: we may be losing the very way of life that we seek to protect
with these systems. I happen to know Stockbridge. You cannot imagine a
more peaceful or well-heeled town. I will now make a point of avoiding
the two shops where I buy fishing tackle; I will ignore its antique
shops, its fine tearooms, and leave them all to the benighted victims
of the bossy, neurotic council that ordered the cameras.
Stuck in a time warp
Soumaya Ghannoushi
May 21, 2007 3:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/soumaya_ghannoushi_/2007/05/stuck_in_a_=
time_warp.html
I, like many, have followed with interest the debate about Hizb ut-
Tahrir which was sparked by the much-too-warmly-received publication
of Ed Husain's book, The Islamist.
Interesting as it was, the discussion centred on a confusion, common
to both defenders and critics of the "Hizb" with Islamic political
thought, and the entire phenomenon widely referred to as "political
Islam", or "Islamism". The truth, however, is that this movement born
at the turn of the last century represents an extreme form of
ideologisation of Islam, which gets transformed under the pens of its
founders into a closed and rigid system, the sum of a set of simple,
pre-determined formulae.
Brown's nuclear opportunity
Kate Hudson
May 21, 2007 2:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/kate_hudson/2007/05/browns_nuclear_oppo=
rtunity.html
Where will Gordon Brown go on nuclear weapons? Last June, his
controversial Mansion House speech was widely interpreted as an
endorsement for the replacement of Trident. But could Mr Brown's
commitment to a different type of politics: "more open and frank
dialogue ... never losing touch with the concerns of people" lead to a
new look at Britain's nuclear weapons? The decision to replace
Trident, pushed through parliament at top speed in March, was not
popular with the public. A poll shortly before the debate and vote
indicated that 72% of the population were either opposed to a
replacement or to taking a decision at this point. Hardly a resounding
popular endorsement - more a result that indicates genuine popular
concern.
That concern is not confined to Britain. The nuclear non-proliferation
treaty conference, meeting in Vienna in the first half of this month,
also gave strong indications of the concern of much of the
international community about the modernisation of nuclear weapons
systems and the failure to make progress towards nuclear disarmament,
as required by the treaty.
The rise of the contingent racists
Zia Haider Rahman
May 21, 2007 1:45 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/zia_haider_rahman/2007/05/the_rise_of_t=
he_contigent_racists.html
Margaret Hodge says that white working-class voters in her Barking
constituency are being tempted by the BNP. Mrs Hodge told BBC Radio
4's The World This Weekend: "The political class as a whole is often
frightened of engaging in the very difficult issues of race and ...
the BNP then exploits that and try to create out of a perception a
reality which is not the reality of people's lives." She said the
area's "difficult" change from a white area to a multi-racial
community had caused some people to seek out "scapegoats".
There are more and more respected voices suggesting that the
indigenous working classes may not be benefiting from competition in
the labour market from immigrant competitors (see, for example, the
work of Harvard economist George Borjas).
Skewing the balance
Joseph Harker
May 21, 2007 12:15 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/joseph_harker/2007/05/skewing_the_balan=
ce.html
David Lammy is wrong. But he's wrong for the right reasons.
Culture minister Lammy, Labour's only African-Caribbean male MP, is
calling for the party, in selecting its candidates for the next
election, to introduce all-black shortlists in order to redress its
racial imbalance. If minorities were represented in proportion to
their population, there would be 51 in the House of Commons. Instead
the numbers are barely into double figures. This is plainly
intolerable and, I agree with Lammy, something must be done.
Encore de Tony?
Conor Foley
May 21, 2007 11:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/conor_foley/2007/05/encore_de_tony.html
Bernard Kouchner, France's newly appointed foreign minister, has a lot
to answer for. If there is a single person who can be held responsible
for the doctrine of "liberal intervention", which defined the latter
stages of Tony Blair's foreign policy, it is probably him.
He was head of the UN Mission in Kosovo when I was working there for
the UN high commissioner for refugees and I met him for the first time
a few weeks after I arrived in the province. In some ways he reminded
me of Blair, who I also met a few times before he became prime
minister. They were both witty, charming, energetic and impulsive.
Both were nominally socialist, but quite happy to ally themselves with
conservatives when the need arose. I also think that they both
passionately believed that they could single-handedly make the world a
better place.
What about people who can't?
Alan Finlayson
May 21, 2007 11:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alan_finlayson/2007/05/what_about_peopl=
e_who_cant.html
While Gordon Brown prepares for power, and his wannabe courtiers
position themselves, something intriguing is happening in "wonk land".
Matthew Taylor, former Downing Street adviser, promotes the idea that
government should seek to harness and extend "pro-social values".
This, he says, entails a "citizen-centric", participative democracy.
Meanwhile, Policy Exchange have made localism central to Cameron's
Tory revival. At the Young Foundation, Geoff Mulgan, also late of
Downing Street, advocates reviving parish councils or "double
devolution". Next week the Direct Democracy group of Tory MPs, and the
Centre for Policy Studies, will launch "The Localist Papers". There is
also much talk of "co-production" in public services.
All this indicates a convergence, within the minds of the political
classes, of two themes: one about values or ethos and one concerned
with constitutional forms and practices. This should not be
surprising. The connection between ethos, the general disposition or
character of a people, and the institutional form of their political
relations, has always been the prime concern of both political thought
and action. When Thomas Jefferson founded a new republic across the
Atlantic he knew he was creating a way of life as well as a way of
government. Margaret Thatcher was explicit that her economic policy
was merely a mechanism for changing the soul. But over the last 10 to
15 years political leaders in Britain have seemed to think that a
culture of a certain kind, say one of "respect", could be conjured up
without changes to the social and political institutions through which
collective life takes place. It is good to know that this error is
being corrected.
A yen for change
Thomas Palley
May 21, 2007 9:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/thomas_palley/2007/05/a_yen_for_change.=
html
Over the past several years, much attention has focused on the role of
China's trade surplus in creating today's global financial imbalances.
But too little attention has been paid to the role of Japan's policy
of near-zero interest rates in contributing to these imbalances. As
global financial uncertainty rises, it is time for Japan to change
course.
Japan's ultra-low interest rate policy was initiated in the 1990s to
put a floor under the economy following the bursting of its asset-
price bubble. However, over time these very low interest rates have
promoted a highly speculative financial "carry" trade: speculators
borrow yen at low rates and then buy dollars and other currencies that
are invested in higher-yield assets elsewhere.
America's reputation is in tatters. But after Bush, recovery could be
swift
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2084994,00.html
The next US president will inherit a legacy of global mistrust.
Restoration of its authority must begin with a painful exit from Iraq
Max Hastings
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Former US president Jimmy Carter lambasted Tony Blair over the weekend
for participating in George Bush's Iraq adventure. Carter might show a
little more gratitude. It is Bush's achievement to have displaced him
from the ignominy of bottom place in the roll call of modern American
chief executives.
Historians will surely judge that Bush's two terms of office have done
much more damage to US interests, and indeed to those of the world,
than Carter's blunders a generation ago. A few months ago I heard a
British diplomat in Washington bemoan the horrors of the current
administration. We must just somehow stagger through to the end, he
muttered. I said that it seemed rash to assume the next US president
would be perfectly to the taste of Britain, or the world, because few
people elected to the White House ever are. He said: "Nothing,
absolutely nothing, could be worse than what we have got now."
It's thriving, but lethal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2085038,00.html
Britain's decade of arms exports puts the lie to any notion of an
ethical foreign policy under Blair
Mark Curtis
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Three months before his election in 1997, Tony Blair wrote in BAE
Systems' newsletter that his government would champion arms exports
and a "strong defence industry". That, despite the hoopla surrounding
the idea of an "ethical" foreign policy, was always the prime
minister's ambition. A decade on, a new set of figures reveals the
devastating extent to which he has succeeded.
Yesterday's report by the NGO Saferworld documents the =C2=A345bn worth of
arms delivered by Britain in the past 10 years, making us the world's
second-largest arms exporter. In the past three years, arms have been
exported to 19 of the 20 countries identified in the Foreign Office's
annual human rights report as "countries of concern". The Colombian
military and its paramilitary allies have killed thousands of people
in the country's civil war. Yet last year Britain exported armoured
all-wheel-drive vehicles, military communications equipment and heavy
machine guns, alongside a military aid programme. Indonesia has
received more than =C2=A3400m worth of military equipment since 1997, while
using British military equipment for internal repression on a dozen
known occasions.
Safety first on the shelves
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2085039,00.html
The internet has given new music a shot in the arm. But in publishing,
conservatism reigns
John Crace
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
With the right amount of money and hype you can still force almost any
old turkey into the pop charts. Just ask Simon Cowell. But the
internet has shifted the balance of power - just about every band now
has a MySpace site and a YouTube presence and can reach a global
online audience without the backing of a major record label. They
don't all make it big, of course, as most are still a bit rubbish, and
the ones that do almost always end up in the arms of the
conglomerates; but there's no getting away from the fact that there's
a process of democratisation going on. If you've got some talent, it's
never been so easy to make yourself heard.
We're not trying to undermine the baby-milk code
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2084958,00.html
Nestl=C3=A9 is committed to the health of mothers and infants in the
developing world, says Hilary Parsons
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Joanna Moorhead's report on infant-formula marketing in Bangladesh
failed to highlight a single violation by Nestl=C3=A9 of the International
Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes (Milking it, G2, May 15).
Indeed, she herself doesn't believe that we are in breach. Instead, by
presenting contacts with health professionals - permitted under the
code - as "aggressive" marketing, the article claimed that Nestl=C3=A9 is
exploiting grey areas.
For example, Save the Children alleges that Nestl=C3=A9 gives health
professionals pictures of Lactogen to pass on to mothers in order to
get around the code's prohibition of direct contacts between mothers
and companies. The article describes these leaflets as "to all intents
and purposes flyers for the product concerned". But giving information
to health workers is permitted by the code.
Big countries, big worries
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,2084989,00.html
Leader
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
This evening, as China's vice-premier Wu Yi rests in her Washington
hotel after a hard day's diplomacy, she should switch on CNN's Lou
Dobbs. The channel's main business presenter, Mr Dobbs may conform to
the medium's mix of gravitas and hairspray, but he styles himself as
the furious voice of middle America. And he is outraged by US trade
relations with what he continually calls "communist China".
Where are the women film-makers at Cannes?
Kira Cochrane
May 22, 2007 9:42 AM
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/05/where_are_the_women_filmmakers.html
In its 60th anniversary year, the Cannes film festival has been even
more abuzz than usual. U2 have given a red-carpet concert, Michael
Moore has shared his remarkable diet tips (eat more "fruit and
vegetables") and, while launching his global warming documentary,
Leonardo DiCaprio has been sparring with journalists. (Did he travel
to the festival by plane? "No," snapped DiCaprio, "I took a train
across the Atlantic.")
To mark the celebrations, festival organisers commissioned Chacun Son
Cin=C3=A9ma (To Each His Cinema), a compilation of short films from 35
leading directors. And on Sunday, contributors to this project,
including Roman Polanski and Wong Kar-wai, lined up for a historic
group photograph, a picture that would underline the diversity of
those at the forefront of film.
Last night's TV: Paul Merton in China
Sam Wollaston
May 22, 2007 8:31 AM
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/tv/2007/05/last_nights_tv_paul_merton_in.html
I think I'd like to go on holiday with Paul Merton. How would it
go ... fancy going up the Eiffel Tower today, Paul? Nah, not really,
let's go and see this old geezer I've heard about who trains dancing
bees in his attic in Montmartre. Or we're in Athens, let's traipse
round the Acropolis with all the other tourists in the heat, shall we,
Paul? Hmm, he'd say, or we could visit the amazing secret factory
where albino eunuchs make baklava with their feet instead ...
He's not a great traveller, he admits, but in Paul Merton in China
(Five), he's in China, as you might infer. And does he visit the Great
Wall, one of man's great achievements, the only structure visible from
the moon? Does he bollocks. No, he goes to see Mr Wu, a farmer who
makes robots out of rubbish, something Mrs Wu is quite cross about.
"Other people's husbands, they are busy making money, or looking after
the wife and children," she moans. "The only thing on his mind is
making robots, I just feel I can't bear it." One of Mr Wu's robots
recently burned the family home to ground.
At home with the stars in Cannes
Charlotte Higgins
May 22, 2007 8:31 AM
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/05/at_home_with_the_stars_in_cann.html
While Daniel Craig, Eva Green and others were lapping up the limelight
at the huge press conference to launch The Golden Compass, the screen
adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, the author
himself was at home in Oxford - ironing a shirt, he said, ready for
the swanky party that's being thrown tonight. "I don't really want to
come," he said, a touch glumly. "I'm viewing it as an anthropological
experiment."
Michael Moore, while still retaining a mighty girth, has actually lost
some weight - partly as a result, he says, of making his film Sicko,
which is about the parlous (as he sees it) state of the US healthcare
system. "I have been very fortunate with my own health considering I
am one of the two-thirds of Americans who needs to walk around the
block a little. Well, I started walking round the block a little. And
I started eating those things that you guys refer to as 'fruits' and
'vegetables'. I have lost 25lb in the past couple of months. I am now
a fairly skinny person - for the Midwest."
Cannes deal of the day: the producer and the chainsaw
Geoffrey Macnab
May 21, 2007 5:17 PM
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/05/schroeder_remembers_plan_for_d.html
Cannes veteran Menahem Golan is back in town today to announce a new
project. It's a Holocaust comedy called Le Grand Festival that will
star Gerard Depardieu as the director of a music festival in a spa
town somewhere in Austria. The film is adapted from the novel by
Aharon Appelfeld about a group of middle-class Jews adrift on the eve
of the war.
Golan is one of those figures whose names have long since passed into
Cannes lore. In his pomp, the ex-Cannon boss was famous for signing
contracts with Jean-Luc Godard and Sylvester Stallone on the back of
napkins. By coincidence, one of his old collaborators is also in
Cannes. Earlier this week, Barbet Schroeder unveiled his brilliant
documentary, Terror's Advocate, about lawyer Jacques Verges, who
defended Klaus Barbie and was friends with Pol Pot.
Doctor Who and Sunshine: separated at birth?
Kate Bevan
May 21, 2007 4:54 PM
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/tv/2007/05/doctor_who_and_sunshine_separa.html
Blimey, did you see Doctor Who on Saturday? I thought it was a
triumph: a pacy, tense episode where even though you know that the
Doctor isn't due for regeneration any time soon, you (well, at least,
I) genuinely thought he was in real peril.
For those who missed it, the Doctor and Martha found themselves on a
grotty old spaceship heading for a collision with the sun, and they
had just 42 minutes - the length of the episode - to avert disaster.
Enemy of the state
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2085006,00.html
Hu Jia has long been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government.
Last week, about to fly to Europe to talk on human rights, he was
detained and accused of threatening state security. It's only the
latest attempt to silence him, says Sami Sillanp=C3=A4=C3=A4, who followed =
Hu
for more than a year as he was kidnapped, illegally imprisoned and
deprived of essential medicines
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
February 7, 2006
Today Hu Jia is free. No one stops him as he walks into a restaurant
in downtown Beijing. But this small, bespectacled man is one of
China's most prominent dissidents, so closely monitored that it has
been difficult to arrange a meeting with him. Many of the diners are
still in holiday mood. The Chinese new year has just passed, and the
year of the dog has begun. But Hu does not eat anything. He is on a
hunger strike.
Sun, sand and slavery
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/2007/may/22/travelnews.g2
Dubai is luring holidaymakers with the world's most lavish hotels.
But, in the second extract from his book about the real cost of
tourism, Leo Hickman looks at the plight of the workers building a
dream destination
If you drive along the al-Ain highway towards the mountain range that
marks the border with Oman, you enter what remains of Dubai's desert.
But before you do so, you pass mile after mile of signs marking the
location of what will soon be known as Dubailand. Once completed, this
will be the world's largest theme park, twice the size of Florida's
Disney World. Scheduled to open between 2015 and 2018, it aims to be
the centrepiece of Dubai's tourism infrastructure, attracting up to
200,000 visitors a day. Already, a replica Taj Mahal and Eiffel Tower
stand awkwardly in the desert.
Dubai Holding, which is building the mega-project, says that at 278 sq
km it will include the world's largest shopping mall, the world's
largest observation wheel, 29 sq km of themed worlds, including
"Women's World", and 75 sq km of "Eco-tourism World", including a
safari park, a vast sporting complex and a snowdome six times bigger
than Ski Dubai - the emirate's existing 25-storey skiing centre, where
around 30 tonnes of snow are created each night as chilled water is
sprayed from 21 snow-makers attached to the roof. Yet, according to
last year's United Nations report Global Deserts Outlook, the United
Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, is now one of the most "water-
imperilled" nations in the world, while also one of the most water-
hungry.
The political pin-up
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2085015,00.html
Gael Garc=C3=ADa Bernal has no interest in becoming a Hollywood star - he's
on a mission to put Mexican cinema on the map, finds Charlotte
Higgins
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
It was a brisk day in London, 2005. Gael Garc=C3=ADa Bernal, the doe-eyed
Mexican star of Amores Perros, The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel and The
Science of Sleep, was walking through Whitechapel in the East End of
London with a couple of friends. It was during his run at the Almeida
theatre in Lorca's Blood Wedding.
"We were really hungover. And all of a sudden one of us started to
dance," he says. "It was very cold. One of us said, 'Imagine we were
going to Tepoztl=C3=A1n. Imagine if we were going to a swimming pool.'"
Tepoztl=C3=A1n is a village outside Mexico City known for its swanky
weekend houses, country retreats for the capital's wealthy. "We
imagined this yuppie guy who goes to his parents' place, and tries to
stop his girlfriend getting there," he says.
China flexes financial muscle with $3bn stake in US private equity
firm
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2084942,00.html
=C2=B7 Beijing's first foray into booming buyout market
=C2=B7 Investment likely to alarm protectionist politicians
Jonathan Watts in Beijing, Andrew Clark in New York
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
A huge shift in global capital flows is forecast after the Chinese
government's acquisition of a $3bn (=C2=A31.5bn) stake in the sprawling US
private equity group Blackstone, owner of Caf=C3=A9 Rouge restaurants,
Madame Tussauds and Center Parcs.
The purchase, though substantial in its own right, is likely to be
only the starting point of a $200bn foray into world stock markets and
private companies by the communist government in Beijing.
China has the world's biggest foreign exchange reserves, worth $1.3
trillion and growing by $1m a minute. Until now, most of this has been
invested in safe but low-yield US treasury bonds. With the dollar
slipping in value, policymakers in Beijing are diversifying into
riskier but potentially higher-return private equity.
Blair's legacy: a fantasy island trying to live beyond its means at
every level
http://business.guardian.co.uk/economicdispatch/story/0,,2079103,00.html
The government and the people have been exisiting on the never-never
Larry Elliott, economics editor
Monday May 14, 2007
The Guardian
Unlike Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair was a Big Tent politician. Where
Thatcher was unashamedly partisan, Blair invited anybody of reasonable
views along to the New Labour party. Where Thatcher had a well-defined
political ideology, Blair cherry-picked ideas on the basis of "what
worked". Blairism - unlike Thatcherism - never existed.
As such, it is strange that Blair will leave office as just as
divisive a figure as Thatcher. Listening to the public when the prime
minister announced he was leaving Downing Street, it was evident one
group of people saw the Blair decade as an unalloyed triumph while a
much larger slice of the population loathed New Labour and all its
works. Blair appears to be testimony to Enoch Powell's dictum that all
political careers end in failure.
Wikipedia takes on the world
http://business.guardian.co.uk/onamerica/story/0,,2072597,00.html
Jimbo Wales thinks that professional journalism still has a place on
the web
Andrew Clark in New York
Friday May 4, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Slim, bearded and slightly fidgety, the Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales
is known as the "god king" to his online followers. He seems to quite
enjoy the adulation.
"I'm not really such a businessman - I'm a revolutionary trying to
destroy an entire industry," he declared at a talk in New York this
week, before hastily adding: "I'm joking, of course."
Since its creation six years ago, Wales' online encyclopedia has
become an internet sensation. It is one of the 15 most visited
websites worldwide and has 7m entries in 251 languages.
Why everything's almost free in America (and why it won't last)
http://business.guardian.co.uk/economicdispatch/story/0,,2063523,00.html
The pound may rise even further against the dollar - but it won't be
for long
Larry Elliott, economics editor
Monday April 23, 2007
The Guardian
For Brits, America is part of the high street. Even before the pound
reached the two-dollar level for the first time in 15 years this week,
the United States was cheap. Now it seems a bargain-basement country
for the shoppers merrily piling on to their jumbo jets for a weekend
splurge on Fifth Avenue.
In the City, there is talk that sterling could go even higher as
interest rates rise in Britain to combat inflation at the same time as
they are being cut in the US to boost growth. The feeling is that a
drip-drip of quarter-point rate increases from the Bank of England
could push the pound to $2.10 before too long.
Sitting at the feet of the Sage
http://business.guardian.co.uk/onamerica/story/0,,2074704,00.html
'Warren Buffett is a genius. Just listening to him, you'll get an MBA
in five hours,' says one acolyte
Andrew Clark in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Tuesday May 8, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
There was a "PDS" here the other night, the weather forecasters
solemnly intoned. That's a Particularly Dangerous Storm to you and me
=E2=80=93 and it wiped out the entire Kansas town of Greensburg a few hundr=
ed
miles to the south.
This oddly named town of Council Bluffs only caught the tail end =E2=80=93 =
but
it still culminated in fork lightening, jet-black skies, a downpour of
monsoon proportions and air raid-style sirens screeching out to warn
of a possible tornado.
Alternative energy market lures controversy and venture capitalists
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2079401,00.html
John Sterlicchi
Monday May 14, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
A surprising splash of red ink from a leading US maker of ethanol
fuel, along with a research report warning of a potential dotcom-type
bubble, has rocked confidence in the burgeoning cleantech market.
The jolt comes at a time when venture capitalists are practically
falling over themselves to invest in cleantech startups, no doubt
reminiscing for the days when companies like Yahoo!, eBay and Amazon
first floated their shares and gave them exit strategies they have
been only able to dream about since the bubble burst.
Iran's secret plan for summer offensive to force US out of Iraq
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2085192,00.html
Simon Tisdall
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Iran is secretly forging ties with al-Qaida elements and Sunni Arab
militias in Iraq in preparation for a summer showdown with coalition
forces intended to tip a wavering US Congress into voting for full
military withdrawal, US officials say.
"Iran is fighting a proxy war in Iraq and it's a very dangerous course
for them to be following. They are already committing daily acts of
war against US and British forces," a senior US official in Baghdad
warned. "They [Iran] are behind a lot of high-profile attacks meant to
undermine US will and British will, such as the rocket attacks on
Basra palace and the Green Zone [in Baghdad]. The attacks are directed
by the Revolutionary Guard who are connected right to the top [of the
Iranian government]."
Fingers point towards Damascus
http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,2085168,00.html
Ian Black, Middle East editor
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Old Middle East hands like to quote the adage: "If you think you
understand Lebanon, you haven't been properly briefed." The country's
sheer complexity, with its mosaic of religions, sects and allegiances
and links to competing foreign powers, can make it fiendishly
difficult to understand.
The violence in the northern city of Tripoli, the worst since the
civil war ended in 1990, certainly has confusing and contradictory
elements: Palestinian Sunni Islamists are said to be linked to al-
Qaida but there are accusations that Syria is behind the whole thing
for its own reasons. Others suggest it is the other "usual suspects":
the US and Israel, deviously stirring the pot.
Paris calls off festival of US culture after threats
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2085185,00.html
=C2=B7 Letters claiming al-Qaida link force postponement
=C2=B7 Event aimed at celebrating Franco-US relationship
Kim Willsher in Paris
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
A festival due to be held in Paris this weekend to celebrate American
music and culture has been called off after death threats from an anti-
US group claiming links to al-Qaida.
Organisers of the Three Days in America festival said the decision to
postpone the event - also aimed at demonstrating "Franco-American
friendship" - was taken to safeguard the public.
The death threats, along with warnings suggesting that the event
itself might be attacked, were made in anonymous telephone calls and
an apparently badly written letter containing numerous spelling
mistakes.
Famed Polish writer outed as 'spy' in anti-communist purge
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2084954,00.html
Ian Traynor, Europe editor
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
The celebrated Polish writer and reporter, Ryszard Kapuscinski,
yesterday became the latest public figure to be "outed" as a
"communist spy" in Poland.
Newsweek Poland put the late writer, reckoned to be greatest east
European journalist of his generation, on the cover of this week's
issue, unveiling details of his communist-era secret police file and
claiming that his global travels in the 1960s and 70s were due to a
bargain he struck with the communist regime to collaborate with the
secret police.
Fury at Turkish ban on bikini ads
http://www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/story/0,,2085211,00.html
Helena Smith in Istanbul
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
The bikini has become the latest item to offend the Islamic-oriented
authorities in Turkey. After a bungled attempt to outlaw alcohol,
municipal officials in Istanbul have set their sights on billboard
advertisements of the skimpy swimsuit. The ban, revealed last week
despite efforts by the mayor to play down the furore, has triggered
outrage among swimsuit manufacturers.
Lambasting the move as more in tune with Iran than a country bent on
joining the EU, appalled secularists said it proved that the ruling
Justice and Development (AK) party had a hidden Islamist agenda.
Caste of mind
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2007/05/21/caste_of_mind.html
News blog, Randeep Ramesh: An election win for a leading untouchable
shows caste is still on India's political agenda.
Villagers riot as China enforces birth limit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2085148,00.html
=C2=B7 Officials beaten by crowd in south-western province
=C2=B7 Large fines and seizing of property spark violence
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Thousands of villagers in south-west China have attacked family
planning officials, overturned cars and set fire to government
buildings in a riot sparked by the state's one-child policy.
Riot police have been sent to at least four townships in the Guangxi
autonomous region after disturbances that led to multiple injuries and
unconfirmed reports of two fatalities, witnesses and Hong Kong media
reported yesterday.
The unrest comes in the wake of a new crackdown by the Bobai county
government against families that break birth control regulations.
Financial penalties have increased and parents who fail to pay are
being punished by having their property confiscated or destroyed.
Beijing blames pollutants for rise in killer cancers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2085213,00.html
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Foul air, filthy water and contaminated soil have led to a surge of
tumours in China, where cancer is the main cause of death, the state
media reported yesterday.
Raising fears that breakneck economic growth is having a dire impact
on the nation's health, a government survey blamed pollution for a
sharp rise in cancer cases.
According to the health ministry, the disease is ahead of
cerebrovascular and heart ailments as the nation's biggest killer.
US Anglicans in huge legal case
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,2085180,00.html
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
The first of a series of multi-million dollar court disputes between
the US Episcopal church and conservative parishes that broke away
after the consecration of a gay bishop opened in Virginia yesterday.
Legal costs have already reached close to $1m (=C2=A3500,000) and Jim
Oakes, a spokesman for the churches that broke away over the church's
perceived liberal leadership, said: "I think it is tragic we are
having to spend this money. We have said consistently we would much
rather put that into mission work."
Brangelina face media at Pearl film launch
http://film.guardian.co.uk/cannes2007/story/0,,2085101,00.html
Xan Brooks
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt chose an unlikely forum for what was
being billed as their first official public appearance together
yesterday. The couple collectively known as Brangelina took their
seats at the press launch for A Mighty Heart, the sole British feature
in this year's Cannes line-up. Predictably enough, they arrived to a
storm of flashbulbs.
"This doesn't feel that different from normal, actually," Pitt said.
"We've usually got cameras following us everywhere we go."
Newcomer shines in Pullman's Golden Compass
http://film.guardian.co.uk/cannes2007/story/0,,2085126,00.html
=C2=B7 Cannes preview for His Dark Materials adaptation
=C2=B7 Director plays down books' anti-religion theme
Charlotte Higgins in Cannes
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
The Golden Compass, the Hollywood adaptation of Philip Pullman's His
Dark Materials trilogy, launched in Cannes yesterday with a sneak
preview of the film, which will hit UK cinemas at Christmas.
Chris Weitz, its screenwriter and director, used the event to address
speculation about whether the books' firmly anti-religious message
would be retained.
Referring to the Magisterium - the all-powerful religious body that
wields total political power in the world of Lyra, the heroine - he
said: "In the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic
church gone wildly astray from its roots. If that's what you want in
the film, you'll be disappointed. We have expanded the range of
meanings that the Magisterium represents."
Relaunch for US left-of-centre radio network
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2085133,00.html
Ed Pilkington in New York
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
The ailing left-of-centre radio network Air America relaunches this
week under new ownership and with a greater emphasis on political and
cultural celebrities in the hope of attracting back its audience.
The talk radio network has been taken out of bankruptcy by a multi-
millionaire property investor, Stephen Green, and his brother Mark, a
politically active Democrat who stood unsuccessfully in the New York
mayoral elections of 2001. The brothers hope to lure back listeners
and advertisers with a starry cast of interviewees and new hosts,
beginning this week.
Fortress Italy pulls up the drawbridge to keep foreign investors at
bay
http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/0,,2085270,00.html
Failed US bid for telecoms giant has increased international
frustration with alleged government meddling
John Hooper in Rome
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
"Investments", noted the US ambassador in Rome last month, "are not
made where they are not welcome".
George Bush's envoy, Ronald Spogli, was not just stating the obvious.
His observation was part of a wholly undiplomatic attack on his host
nation, sent as an open letter to Italy's bestselling daily, Corriere
della Sera.
Mr Spogli decided to vent his feelings after prime minister Romano
Prodi's centre-left government had scotched a bid, spearheaded by the
US telecoms company AT&T, for the company that controls Telecom
Italia. His initiative underscored the fact that Italy's treatment of
foreign investment is fast becoming a source of international tension.
Independently, the European commission is investigating the Prodi
government on suspicion of meddling in mergers and acquisitions.
Council housing, migration, and insecurity
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpolitics/story/0,,2085071,00.html
Patrick Wintour, political editor
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Jon Cruddas, the one-time dark horse candidate for the Labour deputy
leadership, launches his campaign today with the claim that far from
offering a leftwing throwback to the early 80s, he has been the
candidate doing most to address the challenges of the future.
His campaign is largely built round the three, linked issues of
affordable housing, the new, largescale migration flows and the
growing economic insecurity of the working class.
The agenda has led Mr Cruddas's critics to claim he is the candidate
for the overheating south-east, and not the nation. But Mr Cruddas
replies: "It is an easy criticism to make, but difficult to sustain.
When we started talking about housing a year ago, no one was talking
about it - now everyone is. If housing was addressing a small part of
the electoral landscape, and something just going on in my
constituency, I don't think everyone would be joining in."
Blood cell gel could heal skin wounds faster
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2085255,00.html
Ian Sample, science correspondent
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
A gel made from a patient's own blood cells has been used to make skin
wounds heal faster, according to research published yesterday.
The pioneering treatment is expected to help patients recover more
quickly from surgery, allowing them to leave hospital earlier, and may
also reduce complications among people whose skin heals slowly.
Star Trek-type scanner could spot cancer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2085059,00.html
Ian Sample, science correspondent
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Scientists are a step closer to developing a Star Trek-style scanner
which can pick up signs of disease and give a diagnosis with no more
than a wave over the body.
They found that x-rays of cancer patients contain patterns which can
reveal the genetic profile of their tumours. These genetic
fingerprints can then be used to tailor a patient's treatment.
The wrecking of British science
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2084598,00.html
If the world's future lies in scientists' hands, the answers are
unlikely to come from the UK unless we reverse decades of political
neglect, argues Nobel laureate Harry Kroto
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
There is food for thought in the fact that, after a decade of Labour
government and at the same moment that the prime minister was making a
speech about how important he considered science, the University of
Reading announced the closure of its physics department.
Thirty per cent of physics departments have either been closed or
merged in the past five years. What is one to make of the deafening
silence of ministers when, last year, the small Sussex chemistry
department - a fantastic department to work in, where I stayed for
some 37 years and which has housed some 12 fellows of the Royal
Society, three Nobel laureates and a Wolf prize winner since it was
created in 1962 - was under threat of closure? It was only through the
concerted efforts of staff and students that a U-turn occurred.
Kathy Sykes: The people's scientist
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2084625,00.html
She made a microscope from a saucepan on telly and says academics must
learn to listen. By Karen Gold
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
Everyone has their own missed opportunity. For Kathy Sykes, it's a
wall of penises ... in a hands-on science centre. Oh, pull yourselves
together: this is a serious science communication issue. As director
of science in the then newly opened AtBristol centre, Sykes was
planning a teen-friendly human body exhibition. So she went into
schools and asked students what they really wanted to know.
"What the kids said was: 'We know what other people look like, or if
they look like us - and we can only find out by furtive looks. We just
want to know if we're normal.' They came up with the idea of a wall of
life-sized penises and, of course, we didn't do it. But we should
have. We should have done the female equivalent, too. It would have
been brilliant," Sykes says.
Teenage kicks
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2084629,00.html
Could self-defence classes for secondary school girls help them to
feel more confident as well as safer? Julie Bindel reports
Tuesday May 22, 2007
The Guardian
A woman, small and delicate, is being followed by a huge man who
suddenly grabs her from behind and knocks her to the ground. Against
all the odds, this feather-weight female manages to incapacitate her
attacker by placing well-aimed kicks to his groin and head. Jumping to
her feet, the assailant still on the floor, self-defence trainer
Claudia Ferreira da Silva looks around at the group of 14-year-old
girls in her class and asks who would like a go next. Several girls
raise their hands, giggling and excited.
The self-defence course, run by the London Centre for Personal Safety,
is being delivered to girls at Islington Arts and Media school. The
man on the floor, Andrew Blackwood, is also a trainer, but his role,
and that of his colleague Richard Chipping, is to act as assailant,
and allow the girls to hit them as hard as possible. Both men look
like American football players, wearing extra protection. "We wear as
much padding as possible," says Chipping, "so the girls do not have to
hold back. In the event of a real attack, they will have to use all
their strength."
Robert Fisk: A front-row seat for this Lebanese tragedy
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2567970.ece
Published: 22 May 2007
There is something obscene about watching the siege of Nahr el-Bared.
The old Palestinian camp - home to 30,000 lost souls who will never go
"home" - basks in the Mediterranean sunlight beyond a cluster of
orange orchards. Soldiers of the Lebanese army, having retaken their
positions on the main road north, idle their time aboard their old
personnel carriers. And we - we representatives of the world's press -
sit equally idly atop a half-built apartment block, basking in the
little garden or sipping cups of scalding tea beside the satellite
dishes where the titans of television stride by in their blue space
suits and helmets.
And then comes the crackle-crackle of rifle fire and a shoal of
bullets drifts out of the camp. A Lebanese army tank fires a shell in
return and we feel the faint shock wave from the camp. How many are
dead? We don't know. How many are wounded? The Red Cross cannot yet
enter to find out. We are back at another of those tragic Lebanese
stage shows: the siege of Palestinians.
Afghan MP expelled for calling parliament 'worse than a zoo'
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2567969.ece
By Kim Sengupta
Published: 22 May 2007
The most outspoken female MP in Afghanistan has been expelled from
parliament after saying proceedings had descended to a level "worse
than a zoo". The views of Malalai Joya, in a television interview,
outraged fellow parliamentarians, who immediately voted to suspend her
from the house for the rest of her five-year term. Some even demanded
that she should be brought before a court for defamation and stripped
of the right to stand again as a candidate.
This was not the first time that 28-year-old Ms Joya, a fervent
advocate of women's rights, has angered male MPs with her criticisms.
Some have thrown water bottles at her while she spoke in debates and
others have threatened her with rape. She has also survived
assassination attempts and has to regularly change her address after
receiving death threats from Islamist groups.
Leading diabetes drug 'raises risk of heart attack'
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2567982.ece
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Published: 22 May 2007
The world's top-selling oral diabetes drug increases the risk of a
heart attack by almost half, according to new research.
The finding is a serious blow to sufferers from Type 2 diabetes, of
which there are 1.8 million in the UK. Avandia, taken by an estimated
seven million people around the world and 150,000 in Britain, was
hailed as a major advance against the disease when it was launched in
1999.
My killer dinner: How a vegetable diet lead to the malfunctioning of
organs
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2568428.ece
Nick Kettles lay critically ill, his organs failing. Then doctors
discovered the cause of his illness - a plate of broad beans
Published: 22 May 2007
At first, I dismissed my pale, red urine as the result of a large
beetroot salad I had eaten the night before. Nevertheless, as my pee
turned steadily darker throughout the day, until it looked like strong
Ribena, I began to wonder if I should seek medical advice.
Being a staunch vegetarian and advocate of all forms of complementary
medicine, I was stubborn about seeking advice from a system that I
believed was more concerned with sickness than wellbeing. It wasn't
neat blood I was peeing, so surely there must be some innocent
explanation. I would sleep on it, I thought.
Miles Kington: United Deities left traumatised by Bush/Blair axis of
confusion
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/miles_kington/article256796=
0=2Eece
Ningirsu, the War God, said the prayers from Bush and Blair were so
full of misinformation that they could not be dealt with honestly
Published: 22 May 2007
It's high time we took a return trip to the United Deities, which is,
of course, the great debating chamber in the sky open to all gods past
and present, where they pass in review everything that we poor mortals
are up to. So let's have a look in the most recent minutes ...
Out of the shadows
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9210031
May 21st 2007 | NEW YORK
From Economist.com
The future of immigration in America
AMERICA=E2=80=99s census bureau last week released an intriguing statistic:
for the first time, there are now more than 100m people, nearly a
third of the total population, from a minority (or non-white)
background. The black population tops 40m, comprising about 13% of the
population. The largest minority group, Hispanics, now represents
nearly 15% of the total. Were America=E2=80=99s black and brown people to s=
et
up a country alone, it would be the world=E2=80=99s 12th biggest, after
Mexico.
All this is cause for little more than chin-stroking, for many people.
But some mutter that English is under threat from Spanish, and that
Americans are under siege from foreigners, largely because =E2=80=9Cthe bor=
der
is broken=E2=80=9D. Around 12m of the country=E2=80=99s residents are illeg=
al
immigrants, mainly from Mexico and Central America.
Taking stock in Turkey
http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9213043
May 21st 2007
From the Economist Intelligence Unit ViewsWire
Can Islamists and secularists work together?
Turkey=E2=80=99s general and presidential elections just might re-establish=
a
tenuous balance of power between warring secularists and Islamists,
reducing regime tensions at the expense of creating a less stable, and
possibly more nat=C4=B1onalist, government. Whatever the outcome, Turkey
will retain its contradictions=E2=80=94and an economy closely attuned to
global liquidity conditions.
The catalyst for this test of strength has been the expiry of the term
of Turkey's president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, a 65-year-old former judge.
By now, since his term ran out on May 16th, Mr Sezer should be
relaxing in the bright spring sunshine on the balcony of his
retirement home in a lakeside suburb of Ankara. Instead, he remains in
the presidential palace=E2=80=94his home for the past seven years=E2=80=94o=
verlooking
the city centre. No date been fixed for his move.
Fragile democracies
http://www.economist.com/daily/chartgallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D919=
6395
May 21st 2007
From Economist.com
SOUTH-EAST ASIA has recently seen a spate of elections. On Sunday May
20th voters in Vietnam picked a new National Assembly, an institution
which is still there largely to rubber stamp decisions made by the
government. Earlier in May Filipinos voted in rather more meaningful
congressional and local polls. But across the region, at least
according to Freedom House, an American think-tank, only Indonesia can
be reckoned to be truly =E2=80=9Cfree=E2=80=9D.
Lost in translation
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9184053
May 17th 2007 | BEIJING AND HONG KONG
From The Economist print edition
If China sharply revalued the yuan, as American politicians are
demanding, it could actually hurt the United States and help China
CHINA is being cast as the villain once again. By holding its exchange
rate artificially low, it is stealing jobs and causing the United
States to run a huge trade deficit. Beijing must therefore be forced
to revalue the yuan. These are the arguments behind an increasingly
protectionist mood in Washington. Yet they are largely flawed. A
stronger Chinese currency would not much reduce America's trade
deficit. Indeed, the irony is that China, not America, has more to
gain from setting the yuan free. Without a more flexible exchange
rate, there is a growing risk that China's sizzling economy will boil
over.
America's anger at China is clearly growing. In February it filed a
complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against Chinese export
subsidies. In late March the Department of Commerce announced tariffs
of 10-20% on glossy paper imported from China, to offset the impact of
alleged government subsidies. This reversed a 23-year-old policy of
not imposing countervailing duties on a non-market economy. Then in
early April the Bush administration filed two more complaints: one on
Chinese pirating of DVDs and CDs, and the other over restrictions on
the sale of foreign films and music in China.
The alchemists of finance
http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9141486
May 17th 2007
From The Economist print edition
Global investment banks are taking ever more risk, and are devising
ever more sophisticated ways of spreading it, says Henry Tricks
(interviewed here). Is that reassuring or worrying?
AT LEAST since 1823, when Byron's Don Juan described =E2=80=9CJew Rothschil=
d,
and his fellow Christian Baring=E2=80=9D as the =E2=80=9Ctrue Lords of Euro=
pe=E2=80=9D,
investment bankers have inspired awe, envy and, rightly or wrongly, a
measure of disdain. Exactly 100 years ago the undisputed patriarch of
the modern industry, J. Pierpont Morgan, stemmed the Panic of 1907, a
financial crisis caused by unregulated trusts (the hedge funds of
their day). Acting, in effect, as lender of last resort from his Wall
Street office, he was briefly feted before Americans realised the
danger of having such power vested in one man. Cartoonists then
mercilessly mocked him. After his death in 1913 the Federal Reserve
was set up.
The investment-banking industry was further constrained during the
Depression of the 1930s, when Wall Street firms such as that founded
by Morgan were split into commercial banks and securities houses. The
latter=E2=80=94today's investment banks=E2=80=94underwrite stocks and bonds=
and advise
companies on mergers and acquisitions, rather than collect deposits
and make loans. In the 1980s and 1990s they developed a reputation for
gluttonous excess. But a lot has changed since then.
Her latest incarnation: presidential front-runner
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9196231
May 17th 2007 | CLEVELAND AND WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition
The smart money is on Hillary Clinton to win the White House in 2008
HILLARY CLINTON'S appearance at John Hay High School, in Cleveland,
earlier this month was a study in political professionalism. Students
warmed up the crowd with renditions of great American speeches and
songs from =E2=80=9CGuys and Dolls=E2=80=9D. Democratic dignitaries deliver=
ed paeans
of praise for school reform. When Mrs Clinton at last appeared she put
on a perfectly choreographed performance=E2=80=94speaking without notes,
displaying a remarkable knowledge of the school's achievements, and
bringing a touch of glamour to a dull Ohio afternoon with her pearls
and perfectly coiffed blonde hair.
Mrs Clinton praised the school as an example of public-sector reform
at its finest (the school has broken itself up into three smaller
schools, introduced longer school days and longer school years, and
done all this with the co-operation of the teachers' unions). She
talked about what America's cities could achieve if only they had a
partner in Washington, DC. And, unlike many of her Democratic
opponents, she went out of her way to praise the president's No Child
Left Behind Act, claiming that the problems stemmed from shortage of
funds rather than the principle of accountability.
Hail Linnaeus
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9191545
May 17th 2007
From The Economist print edition
Conservationists=E2=80=94and polar bears=E2=80=94should heed the lessons of=
economics
=E2=80=9CNO SCIENCE in the world is more elevated, more necessary and more
useful than economics.=E2=80=9D That was the view of Carl Linnaeus, a Swedi=
sh
naturalist, born three centuries ago this week, who is better
remembered for devising the system used to this day to classify living
organisms.
Linnaeus sought to reveal what he saw as the divine order of the
natural world so that it might be exploited for human benefit. He
lived at a time when exploration and trade were bringing new specimens
to the attention of European scientists. Those specimens, particularly
the plants, were scrutinised as potential crops. At the turn of the
17th century there was no sense of how creatures were related to each
other; descriptions and classifications were unsystematic. Linnaeus
gave life to an organising hierarchy with kingdoms at the top and
species at the bottom.
A general state of disarray
http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9189311
May 17th 2007 | ISLAMABAD, KARACHI AND LAHORE
From The Economist print edition
A slaughter in Karachi, and a vengeful judge, are signs that Pervez
Musharraf is struggling to remain in power
ON MAY 12th the port mega-city of Karachi, a great and seething Asian
bazaar, returned to the violence that has scarred its modern history.
Around 40 people were killed and scores injured in two days of gun
battles. Corpses were dragged from shot-up cars and displayed on the
tarmac. Along Shahrah-e-Faisal, the main thoroughfare, shop-fronts
were smashed and set ablaze. As the carnage spread, 15,000 police and
paramilitary troops stood by, unwilling or unable to intervene.
Many reports suggest the violence was perpetrated by Karachi's ruling
party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), an ethnically-based mafia
allied with Pakistan's president and army chief, General Pervez
Musharraf. Its target was an anti-government rally planned for Karachi
on May 12th, at which thousands of lawyers and opposition supporters
were to protest against General Musharraf's efforts to remove the head
of Pakistan's Supreme Court, Iftikhar Chaudhry. Mr Chaudhry was due to
address the rally.
The big chill
http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9189788
May 17th 2007 | MOSCOW AND WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition
America and Europe confront a new freeze in their relationship with
Russia
AMERICA'S security is =E2=80=9Cthreatened less by Russia's strength than by
its weakness and incoherence,=E2=80=9D wrote Condoleezza Rice, now America's
secretary of state, in 2000, shortly before Vladimir Putin and George
Bush were elevated to their countries' presidencies. The Russia that
Ms Rice visited this week sees itself differently. It feels
economically strong, assertive and more coherent=E2=80=94at least in its an=
ti-
Americanism.
Russia has learned to use its vast natural resources to exert power in
Europe and beyond. This week, just ahead of a testy bilateral summit
with the European Union in Samara, its clout was enhanced by Mr
Putin's crude but effective diplomacy in Central Asia. He persuaded
Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to send more gas exports through Russia,
spoiling the rival plans of America and Europe for a trans-Caspian
pipeline that would skirt south of Russia. Ms Rice's comment that =E2=80=9C=
no
one needs a monopoly=E2=80=9D in natural resources will merely bring smiles=
to
the faces of Kremlin officials.
Trade, death and drugs
http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9194275
May 17th 2007 | BOGOT=C3=81
From The Economist print edition
An argument over the murders of trade unionists is the latest surge in
a sea of trouble surrounding =C3=81lvaro Uribe's government
EIGHT days after workers at a company exporting ornamental plants in
Antioquia in northern Colombia informed the management that they
planned to form a union, the death threats began. =E2=80=9CIf you persist w=
ith
that idea we will have to dissuade you with bullets,=E2=80=9D reads a letter
sent in January to Ancizo L=C3=B3pez, the president of the newly formed
union. Later came threatening phone calls, a shotgun fired at the door
of his home and graffiti on his street reading =E2=80=9Cdeath to [guerrilla]
collaborators.=E2=80=9D
Mr L=C3=B3pez is still alive and so is his union. But others have not been
as fortunate. International labour organisations consider Colombia the
most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists. The
government says 60 union members were murdered in 2006, and nine have
been killed so far this year. Union sources put the figure for last
year at 72.
Back to the dark ages
http://www.economist.com/world/africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9196256
May 17th 2007 | HARARE AND JOHANNESBURG
From The Economist print edition
The last person to leave may not have any lights to turn out
IT IS hard to imagine that things could get any worse in Zimbabwe.
But, sure enough, day by day, they do. Since the opposition, NGOs and
church groups organised a protest rally that was brutally crushed in
March, the police and militias have been intimidating, arresting and
beating up political opponents, journalists, lawyers and ordinary
people alike. The government has even warned the Catholic bishops,
once considered inviolate, to shut up or suffer the same fate.
Meanwhile the inflation rate has passed 2,200%; last week the national
power company announced that it would ration electricity in cities,
possibly to a meagre four hours a day, just as the southern
hemisphere's winter is starting to bite.
Power cuts are already frequent, but the latest blackouts mark a new
low. Residents of Harare, the capital, have been rushing to get
firewood and paraffin, though a domestic worker's monthly wage can buy
only five litres (1.3 American gallons) of paraffin or two litres of
cooking oil. Many companies, already operating at about 40% of
capacity, say the cuts will force them to reduce their working hours
even more. =E2=80=9CThe whole thing is a nightmare,=E2=80=9D says Lovemore =
Mandebvu,
who runs a small furniture-making factory in Harare. =E2=80=9CWe don't know
when we will have power and when it goes. This is affecting our
output. Then at home water runs out when you are bathing, and the
electricity goes while you are cooking.=E2=80=9D Hospitals must use gas
stoves, coal-fired boilers, fuel generators, solar power and candles.
Speaking in tongues
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9199815
May 17th 2007 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition
Dragging America down the rocky road to a set of global accounting
rules
FORGET Esperanto. Too straightforward. The lingua franca that is
increasingly spanning the globe is a tongue-twisting accounting-speak
that is forcing even Americans to rethink some precious notions of
financial sovereignty.
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which aim to
harmonise financial reporting in a world of cross-border trade and
investment, have made great strides since they were adopted by 7,000
or so listed companies in the European Union in 2005. To date, over
100 countries, from Canada to China, have adopted the rules, or said
that they plan to adopt them. The London-based International
Accounting Standards Board (IASB) expects that to swell to 150 in the
next four years.
Voting for more of the same
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9196406
May 17th 2007 | BANGKOK
From The Economist print edition
Lots of elections, but democracy remains fragile and limited
SOUTH-EAST ASIA once rode the crest of what Samuel Huntington, an
American political scientist, called history's =E2=80=9Cthird wave of
democratisation=E2=80=9D. In 1986, near the wave's peak, a people-power rev=
olt
swept away the Marcos regime in the Philippines. In 1992, protests
drove Thailand's army out of power. And in 1998, Indonesia's Suharto
regime collapsed.
This year, the region has elections galore. On May 14th, Filipinos
voted in congressional and local elections. Five days earlier, Timor-
Leste's voters chose Jos=C3=A9 Ramos-Horta, once a leading light in the
struggle against Indonesian occupation, as its president. On May 20th
the Vietnamese will elect a new National Assembly, an institution that
has recently become slightly less of a rubber-stamp. Timor-Leste will
also elect a new parliament later this year. So will Papua New Guinea.
So might Malaysia and, if its timetable for restoring democracy is
maintained, Thailand.
The poison, if not the fruitfulness
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9184379
May 17th 2007
From The Economist print edition
Meanness and mistrust marked relations between the two men who
dominated American foreign policy in the early 1970s
NO ONE, remarked Bismarck, has any idea how much charlatanism there is
in diplomacy. He was not, but might have been, referring to that odd
couple, Richard Nixon and his national security adviser and then
secretary of state, Henry Kissinger. Robert Dallek, the author of
several books on American presidents, culls 2,800 hours of the Nixon
White House tapes and 20,000 pages of transcripts of Mr Kissinger's
telephone calls to add to previous accounts. The result is a
mesmerising close-up of an unusually poisonous yet fruitful
relationship.
The president's distrust of Mr Kissinger did much to destroy his
administration. Nixon's downfall was in the end brought about by the
=E2=80=9Csmoking gun=E2=80=9D contained in his own White House tapes. The t=
aping
mechanism had been installed to provide an accurate account of his
conversations with his national security adviser in order to prevent
Mr Kissinger from falsely claiming credit for Nixon's accomplishments.
Counter-revolution in the car park
http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/asiaview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=
=3D9178848
May 16th 2007
From Economist.com
Local disputes speed the growth of Chinese civil society
CAR owners the world over fret about parking, but in China the
competition for spaces can be especially fierce. Within just a few
years urban China has undergone a transformation. Streets that teemed
once with bicycles are clogged now with cars. New housing complexes
have sprung up in the suburbs for the fast-growing middle classes.
Rows frequently erupt over control of parking spaces within them.
These and other local confrontations signify a huge change in the
balance of power in Chinese cities.
Until the 1990s the state owned almost all urban housing. Most
residents lived close to their state-assigned workplaces. They had no
bargaining power. Neighbourhood committees were controlled by
Communist Party appointees. If residents had complaints, they usually
kept quiet about them.
God without the godfather
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9196429
May 17th 2007
From The Economist print edition
How will the religious right get on without Jerry Falwell?
JERRY FALWELL'S death this week came at a time when the movement he
helped create is in the doldrums. Social conservatives took a drubbing
in the 2006 mid-term elections. The religious right lacks a plausible
presidential candidate: the Republican front-runner, Rudy Giuliani, is
a liberal on most social issues. The movement's leadership looks
eccentric and out of touch. So Mr Falwell's death provokes questions
about the future as well as reflections on the past. Why did he and
the religious right play such a prominent role in American politics
over the past 30 years? And are we seeing the beginning of its end?
Mr Falwell was a quintessentially American type: a poor man who won
fame and fortune by preaching the Word. He was born in the
hardscrabble South. His father was a drunk who killed his own brother
in a gunfight. His academic credentials came from a Bible college. But
he proved that he had a genius for religious entrepreneurialism.
The fatness formula
http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/techview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=
=3D9208296
May 18th 2007
From Economist.com
A food technology with bittersweet effects
HARDLY a day goes by without some further revelation about the
disturbing state of childhood obesity=E2=80=94and the diseases of old age t=
hat
teenagers are beginning to suffer from. One recent study, published in
the Financial Times on May 16th, found that the number of American
children taking medication for the type of diabetes normally found in
ageing obese people had more than doubled between 2001 and 2005. A
worrying percentage of them were also taking drugs for such chronic
conditions as hypertension and high cholesterol as well as type 2
diabetes.
The latest figures suggest that a third of American children are
either overweight or at risk of becoming so. If the trend continues,
today=E2=80=99s children will be the first generation of Americans to have a
shorter lifespan (by two to five years) than their parents. The life
expectancy of Americans today is 77.6 years, one of the lowest in the
developed world.
The ash heap of history?
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9142406
May 10th 2007
From The Economist print edition
Two illuminating new books on communism: the ideology's history and
the legacy left by Mikhail Gorbachev
IS THERE any reason left to care about Soviet communism? Economists
have little time for Marxism-Leninism, finding it inadequate both in
theory and in practice. Governments of what were once Soviet
territories have eagerly signed up to the class enemy's alliances,
NATO and the European Union. Russia itself has moved on. Even China,
ostensibly still a major communist power, chose its own path to
markets and modernity and is now beating capitalists at their own
game.
But two new books will convince doubters that spending time on the
Soviet experience is still worthwhile. The authors are both based at
St Antony's College, Oxford. Robert Service is the current professor
of Russian history, while Archie Brown, after 34 years of teaching, is
now emeritus professor of politics.
BB minus
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9142390
May 10th 2007
From The Economist print edition
LIKE most military rulers, General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's
president, does not make life easy for civilian politicians. In one
field, however, he has been merciful: that of autobiography. They may
suffer banishment and political exclusion, but his opponents can
comfort themselves that they will never write a book as laughably
vainglorious as the general's =E2=80=9CIn the Line of Fire=E2=80=9D, publis=
hed last
year.
An awful certainty
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9142399
May 10th 2007
From The Economist print edition
SOON after the obliteration of Hiroshima on August 6th 1945, the men
who had made it possible, including Robert Oppenheimer and Albert
Einstein, formed a group called the Federation of American (Atomic)
Scientists. Its aim was to explain to governments, starting with
America's, what nuclear weapons truly were. As Hiroshima's ashes=E2=80=94of
paper-and-wood and 150,000 people=E2=80=94bore witness, they were no longer=
a
secret; neither would they be very hard to acquire. There was no
defence against them. Einstein proposed disbanding nation states and
forming a single government dedicated to peace. That was not naive
exactly, writes William Langewiesche, an American journalist, rather
the scientists were saying: =E2=80=9CIf you knew what we know about these
devices, the practice of war must stop.=E2=80=9D
By contrast, the fact that there has been no second nuclear war in the
intervening 60 years seems a modest success. Moreover, the principle
on which this success was built=E2=80=94restricting nuclear arms to a small
group of countries which, directly or through allies, could mutually
assure one another's destruction=E2=80=94is failing fast.
An equation for eternity
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9142442
May 10th 2007
From The Economist print edition
THE roots of algebra, as John Derbyshire tells us, go back to the
ancient world: the Babylonians left cuneiform tablets showing simple
algebraic problems. Its actual birth is usually credited to Diophantus
of Alexandria, who wrote =E2=80=9CArithmetica=E2=80=9D in Greek during the =
third
century. Progress was slow. Negative numbers, or even the number zero,
had not yet been invented, and the notation was cumbersome (try doing
multiplication with Roman numerals).
Medieval Islamic scholars such as Muhammad al-Khwarizmi and Omar
Khayyam also worked on algebraic problems (and gave us words such as
=E2=80=9Calgorithm=E2=80=9D and indeed =E2=80=9Calgebra=E2=80=9D itself). B=
ut it is in 16th-century
Italy that the story gets exciting. Italian mathematicians engaged in
bitter feuds, challenging each other to solve ever more complicated
equations. The crucial step came in a book by a physician called
Girolamo Cardano which presented formulas for both cubic and quartic
equations.
At the deep end
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9142433
May 10th 2007
From The Economist print edition
FROM cleanliness to sociability to athleticism, swimming baths are a
symbol of life in America. Jeff Wiltse unpicks a story that begins in
an age when the main reason for public pools was to let poor people
get clean. In the days before chlorination that created problems: a
swimming pool in New York's Central Park would attract =E2=80=9Call sorts of
undesirable people=E2=80=9D, said the parks commissioner. If it was =E2=80=
=9Cused by
all classes=E2=80=9D said the New York Times in 1910, =E2=80=9Cit will beco=
me foul in
a very short time=E2=80=9D.
Public swimming pools soon became a touchstone of municipal social
reform. But two other kinds of prejudice took over. The first was
against the mixing of lightly clad men and women, which could
encourage lewdness and promiscuity. That gradually eroded. By the
mid-1930s, =E2=80=9Cbathing costumes=E2=80=9D designed to conceal curves an=
d bulges
were giving way to =E2=80=9Cswimsuits=E2=80=9D designed for practicality or=
even,
excitingly, to showcase the body.
A tragedy of our times
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D9142426
May 10th 2007
From The Economist print edition
A play that sets out to tell the story of the siege of Fallujah
FEW incidents in the war in Iraq have appeared as sinister as the
siege of Fallujah in 2004. News agencies were not allowed to enter the
city. Reports of atrocities=E2=80=94unconfirmed, fragmented but horrific=E2=
=80=94
filtered out. Dozens of articles of the Geneva Convention were
allegedly breached during the American bid to =E2=80=9Cre-establish control
and pacify=E2=80=9D this Sunni stronghold in central Iraq.
Eyewitness testimonies from the siege, delivered by actors, are the
cornerstone of a new play written and directed by Jonathan Holmes.
Called =E2=80=9CFallujah=E2=80=9D, it is being performed this month in a va=
st,
converted brewery in London's East End. The play splices together the
verbatim reports of Iraqi doctors, insurgents and civilians, all of
whom experienced the siege at first hand, and offsets them with the
speeches of American soldiers and high-ranking officials.
.
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