• Today on MD’s Journal (Scotland)…

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    As of Noon, 31 October 2009, this site has recorded 286,490 independent public hits.

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    ...Knowledge means the power to make the right choices.

    Welcome, Introduction & Blog Stats

    Mark Dowe: 'Sky News Community Blog'

    Twitter: MarkDowe2009

    Scottish Government: 'Consultation Documents'

    Re-Live: Channel 4 News Video Coverage

    The ‘Saturday Essay’ for 31 October looks at President Obama’s first 12-months in office. Before Mr. Obama was elected, his campaign was full of promises in areas of health-care reform, immigration, tax, Afghanistan and climate change. Soon, it will become apparent whether many of the Obama “ideals” will be realised. Follow the commentary by clicking on the ‘Saturday Essay’ Tab. [31/10]

    The long-awaited report from Charles Haddon-Cave, QC, into the RAF Nimrod crash in Afghanistan in 2006, in which 14 British service personnel were killed was delivered, Wednesday, 28 October. Mr. Haddon-Cave’s report is damning and accuses the Ministry of Defence of putting cost savings before safety, care and airworthiness. Read the article, Ministry of Defence: ‘Afghanistan RAF Nimrod Crash 2006’ [29/10]

    Robert Owen's social reforms of the 1830s are examined. Owen made huge strides in bettering people's standards of living including the development of co-operatives, revamping the manufacturing village of New Lanark and a repeal of the poor laws. Owen was instrumental in the creation of trade unions much to the dismay of the establishment and helped greatly to minimise the use of child labour in Britain. [27/10]

    A look in detail at why the U.S. Dollar is depreciating. Other countries around the world are nervous because the American dollar is central both in terms of reserve currency held and global economic stability. [26/10]

    As the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December nears, an article looks at indigenous British policy and what lessons may be learnt by other countries from these shores. Some aspects of UK policy are good, others not so. Follow this highly viewed article: “Climate Change: ‘British Lessons’” [23/10]

  • (Weekly) Most Read…

    The most read/clicked journals over the last 7-days, to Thursday 29 October, 2009.

    -- Most viewed article (only) in last 7-days, hits in brackets:

    1. Climate Change: 'British lessons' (3,542)

    2. The U.S. Dollar: 'Why the currency is falling'

    3. --INTENTIONALLY BLANK--

    4. Social Reforms: 'Robert Owen'

    5. Ministry of Defence: 'Afghanistan RAF Nimrod Crash'

    -- 'Most Read' excludes works on religion, including Sunday Teaching & Lessons.

  • On the radar…

    1. Sunday Teaching & Lessons

    2. Competition: 'Restructuring British Banking'

    3. Saturday Essay

    4. Medical Study: 'Flu/long-term side effects and related life-long health issues'

    5. Climate Change: 'British Lessons'

    6. Modern Sociological Studies & Methods

    7. MD Gym/Fitness Surgery

    8. 'Homecoming Scotland 2009'

    EDITOR'S NOTE:

    The writer reserves the right to publish any e-mails received where those mailings relate to subject matters on this site.

    © Mark Dowe 2007-2009: all rights protected

  • Hot Press…

    The prosecution opened its case against Radovan Karadzic at the start of his trial for war crimes before a tribunal in The Hague. The former Bosnian Serb leader stands accused on 11 charges, including genocide for the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men at Srebrenica in 1995. He outraged his alleged victims by refusing to leave custody and attend the proceedings. [29/10]

    Violence continued in Afghanistan as it prepared for a run-off on November 7th in its presidential election. The Taliban claimed responsibility for a gun attack on a guesthouse in Kabul in which at least eight people were killed, including five foreign United Nations employees. [29/10]

    A report for Britain’s Treasury called on British tax havens, in overseas territories such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, and crown dependencies, such as Jersey, to diversify their revenue-raising base. There are fears that with the decline in financial services, external economic shocks might be catastrophic for some smaller territories. [29/10]

    Barack Obama promised $3.4 billion for “smart grid” electricity projects, including the installation of a further 18m smart meters that help reduce electricity demand. [29/10]

    A majority of countries on the UN’s Human Rights Council voted for a resolution to send its Goldstone report on the Gaza war to the UN Security Council for possible referral to the International Criminal Court. The United States and five other countries voted against the resolution, which was critical of Israel. Unusually, Britain and France withheld from voting. [23/10]

    The Pope created a new way for groups of Anglicans to convert to Roman Catholicism, precipitating one of the sharpest disputes between the churches for decades. [23/10]

    Japan announced that it will stop refuelling ships in the Indian Ocean for the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan when its current legal mandate expires in January. The government said it was looking for other ways to support the NATO campaign. [15/10]

    Pakistan’s army complained about the terms of a bill going through America’s Congress, tripling non-military aid to Pakistan to $7.5 billion over five years. It requires the secretary of state to certify that Pakistan is dismantling nuclear-proliferation networks and not supporting militant groups. [15/10]

  • RSS Politics

  • Scotland Snippet …

    Edinburgh Courant:

    – Newspaper first published 14 February 1705. It was both edited and printed by James Watson (d. 1722), who had produced the Edinburgh Gazette 5 years earlier. [03/09]

    Cutty Sark: Clipper ship built at Dumbarton in 1869, used initially for the tea trade with China and then for the Australian wool trade. Her name is that of the young witch in Robert Burns’ poem Tam O’Shanter. Later, the ship had been restored and placed in dry dock at Greenwich, and since 1957 has been open to the public. [23/08]

    Beinn Ghlas Mountain, a Munro (1103m/3619ft) on the shoulder of Ben Lawers, near Loch Tay. The Beinn Ghlas wind farm was opened in 1999. [30/07]

    Black Watch – Gaelic: Am Freiceadean Dubh*

    Raised as 6 independent companies of infantry in 1725 to maintain order in the Highlands after the Jacobite rising of 1715. In 1739 these were combined into the 43rd Regiment of Foot, renumbered 42nd in 1751.

    Its dark tartan and original role gave it its name; its motto is ‘Wha daur meddle wi’ me’. It has served in most British campaigns and is now known as the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment). It recruits from east central Scotland.

    * Dowe = Black Dubh [21/07]

    Turnberry – Golfing and beach resort in Ayrshire, 9km north of Girvan, and the home to this year’s Open Golf Championship.

    The 5-star Turnberry Hotel, built from 1904 for the Glasgow and South Western Railway by James Miller, is often reckoned to be the best in Scotland.

    Turnberry now incorporates the Colin Montgomery Golf Academy.

    Turnberry Castle, fragments of which remain, is alleged to be the birthplace of Robert I, and was a centre for his campaigns. Turnberry lighthouse is built over it. [17/07]

  • Promise of Morning…

    The Windowsill of Heaven:

    Every morning lean your arms awhile upon the windowsill of heaven and gaze upon the Lord.

    Then, with the vision in your heart, turn strong to meet your day.

  • Intelligence Briefing…

    1. Strategy for fighting the Taliban:

    Briefing: ‘A strategy against the Taliban’

    2. Could a tsunami really hit Britain; consider the evidence:

    Could a tsunami happen in Britain?

    3. NATO: How is it meant to move forward:

    NATO: 'A way forward?'

    4. Any other ways for governments to act other than taking banks over?

    Nationalisation isn’t the only option

    5. UK Anti-Terrorism: 'Contest Two Strategy'

    Home Office & Contest Two

    6. Resistance among local communities increases against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

    Afghanistan: 'Taleban objectives?'

    7. Iran and its covert nuclear projects.

    Intelligence Briefing: 'Iranian politics and its covert nuclear projects'

  • Noticeboard …

    modus operandi:

    Servo pia quod vacuus duco sumptus

    (Serve honestly and without counting the cost)

    "Software and technology in the right hands"

    On Journalism J.M. Barrie (1860-1937) said:

    ... "The printing-press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, one sometimes forgets which.

    Watch or listen to BBC programmes within the last 7-days:

    BBC i-Player

    "The pen is mightier than the sword"

    ... is a metonymic adage coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839 for his play 'Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy'.

    The play was about Cardinal Richelieu, French clergyman, noble, and statesman.

  • RSS Home News

  • RSS The Economist: Briefings

    • Fertility and living standards: Go forth and multiply a lot less October 29, 2009
      Lower fertility is changing the world for the betterSOMETIME in the next few years (if it hasn’t happened already) the world will reach a milestone: half of humanity will be having only enough children to replace itself. That is, the fertility rate of half the world will be 2.1 or below. This is the “replacement level of fertility”, the mag […]
    • Low fertility : The rich are different October 29, 2009
      Rich nations are also reaching replacement fertility—by boosting their ratesWHAT happens in poor countries when they reach replacement fertility? The lesson of rich countries is that they stay there for decades. German fertility dipped below replacement in 1970 and is still low. America is the only rich country that, having fallen below the replacement […]
    • Nestlé: The unrepentant chocolatier October 29, 2009
      The world’s biggest food company is betting on an emerging class of health and nutrition products to spur its growth. But risks aboundIT IS a curious blend of kitchen and laboratory. From one room wafts the bittersweet smell of chocolate being gently heated and stirred by chocolatiers. Around the corner it is all science. A double row of cubicles conta […]
    • America's public debt: Tomorrow's burden October 22, 2009
      America’s debt crisis will be chronic, not acuteAS AMERICA’S financial crisis recedes, the rumblings of its next crisis can be heard. The federal government has wrapped its guarantees around banks and the housing market. It has borrowed hundreds of billions of dollars to stimulate the enfeebled economy, while tax revenues crumble. And in the year […]
    • California's water wars: Of farms, folks and fish October 22, 2009
      A truce in California’s long and bitter fight over water at last appears possibleIN 2007 Oliver Wanger, a federal judge in California, ordered the huge pumping stations of the Sacramento Delta, the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas, to reduce by a third the water they delivered to two aqueducts that run south to the farms of the San Joa […]
    • Pakistan's new assault on terrorism: Tackling the other Taliban October 15, 2009
      In the wake of a terrible surge in terrorism, Pakistan’s army prepares to enter the lair of its Mehsud militantsAFTER descending the jagged heights of South Waziristan, a remote part of Pakistan that borders Afghanistan, Wazir Khan Mehsud reached safety last week with his three small children, 40 other relations and their bundled possessions. They had […]
    • Afghanistan and Pakistan: Obama's faltering war October 15, 2009
      Rising bloodshed is threatening the security of Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the first of two articles, we look at America’s military options in AfghanistanAMERICA’S commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, is candid about the complexity of the war against the Taliban: “Every day I realise how little about Afghanistan I actuall […]
    • Cloud computing: Clash of the clouds October 15, 2009
      The launch of Windows 7 marks the end of an era in computing—and the beginning of an epic battle between Microsoft, Google, Apple and othersDO YOU have plans for next weekend? If not, don’t worry: perhaps a friend will be throwing a party to celebrate the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft’s new operating system, on October 22nd. You’ll g […]
    • The EU after the Irish vote: The future's Lisbon October 8, 2009
      Now that the Irish have voted Yes, what sort of Europe will emerge?FROM lamp-posts all over Dublin, a nice-looking woman smiled at passers-by. “It’s simple,” the poster read; “I’m safer in Europe”. What her safety had to do with the Lisbon treaty—a series of technical if important changes to the EU’s internal r […]
    • The Czechs and Lisbon: Klausology October 8, 2009
      Decoding the Czech president’s obstructionismIF THE outside world were begging for a delay to the Lisbon treaty, the Czech Republic’s famously contrarian president would probably hurry it along. As it is, he is enjoying a last-ditch attempt by his Eurosceptic allies to get it blocked by their country’s constitutional court. No matter that t […]

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  • RSS The Independent – Commentators RSS Feed

    • Andy McSmith: Labour and the Soviet influence November 5, 2009
      Reading extracts from the diaries of the Soviet apparatachik Anatoly Chernyaev in the Spectator reminds me how long I have been on this earth.
    • Amol Rajan: In defence of Tony Blair getting very rich November 5, 2009
      , I wanted to flag up a piece by Edward Heathcoat-Amory in last Saturday's Mail. It's entitled 'Inside Blair Inc'. It's what we in the industry call a cuts job.
    • Rupert Cornwell: A warning for both Democrats and right-wing conservatives November 5, 2009
      This week's off-year elections sent the same lesson to both Democrats and Republicans. In the US, as in every other democracy, elections are won and lost in the centre. Parties that ignore that truth do so at their peril.
    • Matthew Norman: Alan Johnson, casualty of a dangerous addiction to power November 5, 2009
      Something so weird has happened to Alan Johnson lately that, despite the evidence of his own mouth, you have to suspect him of being reliant on a mind-altering drug.
    • Denis MacShane: A Parliament of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich November 5, 2009
      Our offshore newspaper proprietors have won. Parliament will now be of the rich, by the rich, for the rich. For the millionaires in David Cameron's Shadow Cabinet there is nothing to fear from the Kelly proposals. They can afford homes in London and their constituencies and the chance to see their children grew up, which Kelly now denies to those who ha […]
    • Sean O'Grady: These ladybirds are bugging me November 5, 2009
      The Snows of Kilimanjaro are melting. The Ganges is drying up. El Niño is unleashing freak weather all over the world. And, in my tiny corner of suburbia, I've been invaded by ladybirds, a small, colourful but puzzling consequence of climate change.
    • Angela Merkel: The jeans my aunt sent me that created my picture of America November 5, 2009
      The land of unlimited opportunity – for a long time it was impossible for me to reach. The Berlin Wall, barbed wire and the order to shoot those who tried to leave limited my access to the free world. So I had to create my own picture of the United States from films and books, some of which were smuggled in from the West by relatives.
    • Christina Patterson: My boss is discriminating against me November 5, 2009
      Newspaper offices waste quite a lot of paper. So, in fact, do newspapers, as yesterday's splendid pine tree becomes (depending on your point of view) today's finely crafted chronicle of our times, or semi-literate showbiz goss, and tomorrow's guinea-pig toilet.
    • Guy Adams: The path to precious success at the Oscars November 5, 2009
      Can you buy an Oscar? Until this week, I wasn't sure. Film studios obviously throw cash at awards season, taking out ads in Variety and hosting cocktail bashes in support of fancied movies.
    • Adrian Hamilton: Cameron, Europe and pure waffle November 5, 2009
      Is Europe David Cameron's Clause IV moment – the point at which he faces down his own party and, using the prospect of power, simply overrides their most deep-seated prejudices? It would be wonderful to think so. It might even make a man out of the putative Prime Minister, who still appears a being in progress, trying to find not just power but what he […]

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Improving justice in Scotland

Posted on May 12, 2008 by markdowe

THE decision by the Scottish Government to introduce new legislation requiring disclosure of more information to defence lawyers is long overdue. For the first time in Scotland, a clear definition of the legal requirements for disclosing evidence will be backed by a statutory code of practice, bringing the system in Scotland into line with similar [...]

Filed under: criminal justice system, defence lawyers, disclosure, echr, elish angiolini, fair trial, lord coulsfield, megrahi, national security, public interest immunity, scottish courts, scottish government | 1 Comment »

Private schooling

Posted on May 11, 2008 by markdowe

IN a response to the under noted article, published on the website of the Guardian newspaper, entitled: “The charms of Eton” and dated 11 May, 2008.
I remember mixing with a whole group of private boarding school children, or young adults, during my time spent within the Air Training Corps. The squadron was an equal mix [...]

Filed under: charitable status, charms of eton, etonians, fee-paying schools, meritocracy, public school, standards of excellence | Leave a Comment »

The risks of flooding

Posted on May 11, 2008 by markdowe

This is a response made to Jeremy Kuper, freelance journalist, whose article “London under water” appeared on the website of the Guardian Newspaper, dated 11 May, 2008.
- Please click on the title link, for the article to appear

IT’S not just London that is faced with the predicament of being flooded by a powerful tidal [...]

Filed under: early warning system, east anglia, environment agency, flooding, global warming, london, london under water, sea defences, thames barrier, tidal surges | Leave a Comment »

Population & Environment (1)

Posted on May 4, 2008 by markdowe

The growth of the human population

FOR MOST of human history there have only been a few million people living on the Earth. This is not really surprising since they had to depend on hunting and gathering activities in meeting with their food needs. As human beings gradually developed more advanced methods of meeting their [...]

Filed under: environmental policies, population growth | Leave a Comment »

Price of oil

Posted on May 1, 2008 by markdowe

THE PRICE of oil, or any commodity, is determined by the ‘equilibrium’ of supply and demand. When a commodity becomes scarce, the natural effect is to reduce demand by increasing the price. The problem with oil, though, is it seems to know no-bounds.
As oil reaches its peak and supplies start to dwindle, oil produces can [...]

Filed under: biofuels, biomass, climate change, commodity prices, environmental policies, food prices, hamish mcrae, opec, price of oil, wealth-gap | Leave a Comment »