• Policy Games

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    3–5 minutes

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    1 comment on Policy Games

    Ever since last year’s UK elections produced a hung Parliament and the current Conservative/Lib Dem coalition, I’ve been following politics with a keen eye – particularly the travails of the Lib Dems, who find themselves in (sort of) power after many, many decades. It’s been interesting to see the spirited debates on places like Lib…

  • Social Liberal Forum

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    1–2 minutes

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    No comments on Social Liberal Forum

    I’m going to the Social Liberal Forum in London tomorrow, a conference being run by the Liberal Democrats. I’m not a member of the Lib Dems and to be honest I’m pretty disappointed by them, but I feel it’d be an interesting and useful experience to go to a political conference, just to see how…

  • The Pursuit of Perfection

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    5–8 minutes

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    No comments on The Pursuit of Perfection

    Not only have the terms of success changed but also the very terms of life. For a person who can live within his illusions, the career has to be perfect, the wife has to be perfect, the children have to be perfect, the home has to be perfect, the car has to be perfect, the…

  • We don’t need your permission any more

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    2–3 minutes

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    1 comment on We don’t need your permission any more

    One of the most annoying things in life is asking for permission: permission to build an extension, permission to volunteer at a school, permission to start a business. It’s always irritating to imagine some distant bureaucrat with little interest or understanding of your life in control of your fate. Almost every sphere of life and…

  • On Justice (2010 Reviews, Part 1)

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    3–4 minutes

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    No comments on On Justice (2010 Reviews, Part 1)

    Since moving into a new flat two months ago, I resolved to demolish my pile of unread books that had been eyeing me reproachfully for far too long. Counting some extra books I tackled after the pile of doom, I read: Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael Sandel The Lifecycle of Software…

  • Can a Game Save the World?

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    2–4 minutes

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    31 comments on Can a Game Save the World?

    On December 9th 2007, a curious event took place at the University of South Carolina football stadium. As 29,000 people filed inside, each was given a piece of paper bearing four names and phone numbers. During the event, each person called those names and asked them to vote for Obama in the coming primary election.…

  • The Death of the BBC

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    3–5 minutes

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    18 comments on The Death of the BBC

    …and the Case for Public Service Games The BBC is a world-class broadcaster that produces some of the very best TV, radio and news. It’s also an organisation that is desperately holding on to its past glories, while ignoring the potential and importance of the internet. What is the BBC for? According to its Royal…

  • Briefly, on British politics

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    5–7 minutes

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    12 comments on Briefly, on British politics

    In case you aren’t in the UK or haven’t been following the news lately, there is something of a crisis in British politics. Partly caused by an expense scandal in which some MPs have been making rather dubious claims, the Labour government is now seeing cabinet ministers resigning more or less every single day. Forget…

  • My Daily Read

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    4–6 minutes

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    2 comments on My Daily Read

    “You’re better off reading a bunch of blogs than most columnists.” – me, earlier today. Every time I open the Guardian, or the Times, or any other newspaper, I am disappointed by the poor quality of the columns and editorial. For the most part, they’re barely-informed polemics that are constrained by word limits and motivated…

  • Democracy Scorned

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    2–3 minutes

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    4 comments on Democracy Scorned

    The energy and public participation in the 2008 US Election has made many in the UK very jealous, and is raising questions about, say, why we don’t have primary contests to choose party leaders. Here’s how leadership contests currently work: Conservatives: MPs choose two candidates, who party members can then vote on Labour: the totality…