Scottish Water and Mutualisation

The two main political parties within the Scottish Parliament, the SNP and Labour, have backed a ‘review’ of Scottish Water’s ownership – but only on condition it does not change. Both parties have voted for a review of its current public ownership, and consideration of the company becoming a ‘customer-owned mutual’ society.
Whilst First Minister Alex [...]

E-coli, MRSA and Superbugs

BACTERIA have a tendency to evolve to overcome anything which attempts to prevent their survival. The discovery of penicillin in 1928, and the continued development of advanced antibiotics since then, there has been a reasonable degree of public confidence that infections can be cured from the use of drugs deployed by the pharmaceutical industry. Over [...]

US Troops & Withdrawal from Iraq?

US commanders celebrated this week the first anniversary of “the surge” with quiet solitude. Nobody in the US military or within the White House should be making any rash claims of “mission accomplished”.
Brute American strength might be one factor; shifting Sunni allegiances and a fortunate timed ceasefire from a radical Shia warlord have all combined [...]

Practical Ethics: ‘The Environment’

PREFACE
Practical Scenario and Setting:

A river tumbles through forested ravines and rocky gorges and heads towards the sea. The state hydro-electricity commission sees the rapid falling water as a source of untapped energy. Building a dam across one of the gorges would provide three years of employment for over a thousand people, and longer term employment [...]

British surveillance society & intelligence

It is believed by Nick Clegg MP, the Liberal Democrat Leader, that the British public is the “most spied upon on the planet”. Mr. Clegg has accused the Government of creating a “surveillance state”.
Mr. Clegg asserts that the recent bugging of the Labour Government Whip and MP Sadiq Khan should not have come as [...]

Afghanistan, opium and troop deployments

AFGHANISTAN is the world’s biggest producer of opium. 2008 will provide another bumper crop, making for a windfall for the Taliban regime who forces upon farmers a tax in financing their fight against internal government and western forces.It is six years now since the US-led force toppled the Taliban, but its failure in bringing under [...]

Stem cell research concessions

The ‘Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill’ is to be amended in the UK.
In the view of the writer, this represents a major victory for common sense, a win for the more than two dozen signatories (including three former Nobel prizewinners) who petitioned an open letter that was published by many UK newspapers on Januray 21, [...]