• Today on MD’s Journal (Scotland)…

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    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 21/11 considers the multifarious views that have emerged within the U.S. administration over, how best, to deal with Afghanistan. With President Obama having returned after his Asian tour, this week, a decision is now imminent as to whether he will heed to the request of General Stanley Chrystal for an additional 40,000 troops. Click on the ‘Saturday Essay’ tab for commentary. [pub. 21/11]

    An examination of future 'market competiveness' within the Banking sector following recent announcements by the European Union, and the pay-back now due after huge cash-injections by the British Government into Lloyds and HBOS. [pub. 20/11]

    An examination of the possible link between paternal flu and long-term side effects associated with influenza following pandemics. [pub. 16/11]

  • (Weekly) Most Read…

    The most read/clicked journals over the last 7-days, to Thursday, 19 November, 2009.

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

    1. Research: 'Long-term side effects of influenza' (3,698)

    2. -INTENTIONALLY BLANK-

    3. Ministry of Defence: 'Afghanistan RAF Nimrod Crash 2006'

    4. Saturday Essay

    5. Northern Yemen: 'A proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia'

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

  • On the radar…

    1. Sunday Teaching & Lessons: 'Sin gets radiation treatment'

    2. Gilo (Jerusalem): 'Israel's settlement policy?'

    3. Book Review: Patrick Hennessey's 'The Junior Officers' Reading Club' [frontline in Afghanistan]

    4. Banking: 'Market competiveness'

    5. Saturday Essay

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

    7. Climate Change: 'British Lessons'

    8. Modern Sociological Studies & Methods

    9. MD Gym/Fitness Surgery

    10. '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…

    In Kabul, Hamid Karzai was inaugurated as Afghanistan’s re-elected president, after a controversially flawed election in August. Apparently in response to international pressure, his officials announced the formation of a force to fight corruption, to work with the FBI and Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency. [19/11]

    A new report on Iran’s nuclear work by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear guardian, doubted Iran’s claim that a newly discovered uranium-enrichment plant being built inside a mountain near Qom is a recent, stand-alone civilian site. Building started five years earlier than Iran claims, so inspectors worry that there could be other hidden sites to support this one. [19/11]

    Barack Obama paid his first visit to China, where he held talks with his counterpart, Hu Jintao, and the prime minister, Wen Jiabao. A “town-hall meeting” in Shanghai was attended by only carefully vetted young people, and no questions were permitted at a joint press conference by Mr Obama and Mr Hu. A long joint statement promised co-operation on trade, climate change and a range of other issues. But there were no breakthroughs. [19/11]

    Democrats in the Senate unveiled their much-anticipated health-care bill, less than two weeks after the House passed its version. As with the House legislation, the Senate bill creates new insurance exchanges and stops insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. It also sets up a government-run insurance plan, but with a provision allowing states to opt out. The Congressional Budget Office costed the bill at $848 billion and said it would reduce the deficit by $130 billion over a decade. [19/11]

    Fighting intensified in northern Yemen, with Saudi forces blockading the northern coast and helping their Yemeni counterparts to attack rebels loyal to the Houthi clan. [19/11]

    Saudi Arabia got more deeply involved in the civil war in northern Yemen. It said its navy was blockading the northern strip of Yemen’s Red Sea coast in an effort to stop weapons reaching rebel Yemeni Shias, who have recently been attacking both Yemeni and Saudi government forces. [12/11]

    Mr Obama delayed his decision about whether to send more troops to Afghanistan until after Hamid Karzai’s inauguration on November 19th. America’s envoy in Kabul wrote to the president opposing a troop surge, until Mr Karzai can prove he has tackled corruption. [12/11]

    On the eve of Barack Obama’s first presidential trip to Asia, America said its special envoy would soon go to North Korea to try to get stalled six-party talks on nuclear disarmament going again. Separately, boats from North and South Korea exchanged fire near their disputed maritime border. [12/11]

    An army psychiatrist went on a shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas, killing 13 people. Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s motive for the rampage was unclear, but investigators hope to get some answers when they interview him; he was shot and injured by a police officer at the base. [12/11]

    World leaders gathered in Berlin to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Heavy rain did little to dampen the celebrations, which were attended by Mikhail Gorbachev, the then Soviet leader. [12/11]

    Hamid Karzai was declared re-elected as president of Afghanistan when a second-round run-off ballot was cancelled. The other candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew in protest at the failure to remove officials accused of involvement in the widespread fraud that marked the first round in August. Meanwhile, the UN decided to relocate 600 of its foreign workers in Afghanistan and halted development work in north-west Pakistan because of deteriorating security. [05/11]

    Radovan Karadzic entered the dock for the first time at his war-crimes trial in The Hague. Previously the former Bosnian Serb leader, who is defending himself, had refused to appear as he does not accept the court’s legitimacy. [05/11]

    Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, addressed a joint session of the United States Congress. Speaking just before the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German leader urged America to join the fight against climate change. [05/11]

    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]

    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]

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  • 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.

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    • America's fiscal deficit: Stemming the tide November 19, 2009
      Unprecedented levels of government debt may require radical solutions STUDENTS at National Defence University in Washington, DC, were recently given a model of the economy and told to fix the budget. To get the federal debt down, they jacked up taxes and slashed spending. The economy promptly tanked, sending the debt to higher levels than before. The lesson: […]
    • The pros and cons of VAT: A last resort November 19, 2009
      Its advantages are oversold, but it is gaining adherentsLIBERALS oppose a value-added tax because it falls more heavily on the poor. Conservatives oppose it because it is a money machine. Larry Summers, Barack Obama’s chief economic adviser, once predicted that America would get a VAT when the two sides reversed positions. That moment may be approachin […]
    • Monsanto: The parable of the sower November 19, 2009
      The debate over whether Monsanto is a corporate sinner or saintFEW companies excite such extreme emotions as Monsanto. To its critics, the agricultural giant is a corporate hybrid of Victor Frankenstein and Ebenezer Scrooge, using science to create foods that threaten the health of both people and the planet, and intellectual-property laws to squeeze every l […]
    • Nigeria: Hints of a new chapter November 12, 2009
      As militants lay down their arms in the Niger Delta, the battle is on to tackle Nigeria’s other massive ills IN YENAGOA, the capital of Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta, giant billboards in the centre of town proclaim the dawn of a “walking, talking ideology”—Sylvanomics. Some new fad, perhaps, from the IMF or the World Bank? No; the […]
    • Derivatives: Over the counter, out of sight November 12, 2009
      Derivatives are extraordinarily useful—as well as complex, dangerous if misused and implicitly subsidised. No wonder regulators are taking a close lookIN 1958 American onion farmers, blaming speculators for the volatility of their crops’ prices, lobbied a congressman from Michigan named Gerald Ford to ban trading in onion futures. Supported by th […]
    • Correction: Japan's technology champions November 12, 2009
      In last week’s article on Japan’s technology champions (“Invisible but indispensable”) we located Westinghouse and the old heart of the American steel industry in Philadelphia rather than Pittsburgh. Sorry. This has been corrected online. ...
    • Japan's technology champions: Invisible but indispensable November 5, 2009
      A host of medium-sized Japanese electronics firms have developed dominant positions in many areas of technology. Can they keep them?Correction to this articleABOUT 40 nuclear reactors are under construction around the world, designed by half a dozen companies from America, China, France, Japan and Russia. But to obtain a huge, solid-steel vessel to contain t […]
    • China's reaction to Communism's collapse: Keep calm and carry on November 5, 2009
      How Deng Xiaoping neutralised the country’s worst moment“THE East German people are now strengthening their unity under the leadership of the party.” So declared China’s Communist Party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, in October 1989. A month later the Berlin Wall fell. Even today, China’s leaders find the memory painful. […]
    • Berlin re-united: Not quite grown up November 5, 2009
      Still sparsely peopled, and still an islandUNTIL the Berlin Wall fell, Jutta Wrase photographed mostly in black and white. You could buy colour film in East Berlin, but the colours were bad and few shops would develop it. After the wall fell Ms Wrase was too shocked for a while to photograph much. Not that she mourned the old regime: she had photocopied forb […]
    • The world after 1989: Walls in the mind November 5, 2009
      The ex-communist countries of central Europe have fared well, mostly, since 1989. But they still have to shed their image as poor and troubled relationsPICTURE yourself in a smoky cafe somewhere in the middle of Europe—Prague, say—in late 1989. Sipping muddy coffee sweetened with gritty sugar, served by a sullen waiter at a greasy table, you are […]

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    • Amol Rajan: In awe of Terminal 5 November 25, 2009
      My brother and I picked up my dad, who was returning from India, at Heathrow's Terminal 5 this morning. It reminded me of an argument we had in a recent leader conference. The general tenor was unusually gloomy, with most of my comrades moaning about how appalling the design of Terminal 5 is, how impractical parts of it are, how hideous the architecture […]
    • Manmohan Singh: We'll play our part on emissions, but India won't clean up your mess November 25, 2009
      Our generation has an opportunity given to few, to remake a new global equilibrium after the irreversible changes brought about by the rapid and recent geopolitical and economic shifts. Nowhere are the changes more visible than in Asia. India and the United States can work together with other countries in the region to create an open and inclusive regional a […]
    • Patrick Cockburn: Britain's ignorance of Iraq is already apparent November 25, 2009
      Ever since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 senior British officials have gently hinted that what went wrong was the fault of the Americans and, if there is any blame left over, it belongs to Tony Blair. The first day of the Chilcot inquiry suggests, on the contrary, that British mandarins of the day had little more idea of the mechanics of Iraqi politics than t […]
    • Christine Gilbert: Ofsted is up to the task of policing our schools November 25, 2009
      Weak regulation serves nobody's interests, not even vested interests. Ofsted must not pull its punches – our job is to speak up for children and learners, and I make no apology for that. There can be no hiding place for poor practice.
    • Brian Cox: We're doing it not because it's easy, but because it's hard November 25, 2009
      The Large Hadron Collider is all about understanding the forces of nature, and it’s on this understanding that our modern technological world rest. You can trace a direct line through the history of physics, from Newton’s gravity, Faraday and Maxwell’s electronmagnetism, Rutherford’s discovery of the atomic nucleus, Eddington’s understanding of the power sou […]
    • Christine Blower: Ofsted is not up to the task of policing our schools November 25, 2009
      The NUT has very great concerns about the new inspections framework for schools. Ofsted's decision to "raise the bar" in its approach to school inspection is causing anger and fear among teachers.
    • The Sketch: If he's come to this inquiry with an open mind, he'll leave with one too November 25, 2009
      Wise old birds will counsel caution, but a rush to judgement may save time in the end. The Chilcot inquiry looks set to be boring, miasmic and faintly dishonest.
    • Terence Blacker: Science must never be political or emotional November 25, 2009
      At about the same time as a dastardly hacker was stealing the email archive of the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit, a senior member of the same faculty was addressing a group of villagers in south Norfolk. The professor's themes were energy and climate change, matters of particular interest in a part of rural East Anglia which co […]
    • Carola Long: A cover star fit for a sordid age November 25, 2009
      As unlikely cover stars go, Silvio Berlusconi's appearance on the cover of Italian Rolling Stone magazine must be up there with Marge Simpson featuring on the front cover of November's Playboy. The publication has hailed the Italian prime minister as its, "rock star of the year", but it's not his musical achievements as a one-time cr […]
    • Mark Steel: Come rain or revolution, it's money they all want November 25, 2009
      Haven't the 20th anniversary celebrations of the overthrow of communism been miserable? In 1989, with historically youthful joy, swarms of demonstrators danced across the Berlin Wall and brought down a collection of tyrannies, so the commemoration starts with the dullest statesmen sat in rows looking as if they're about to say "Well I'd b […]

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Understanding the universe: ‘A must for science’…

Posted on September 29, 2008 by markdowe

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Filed under: Hadron, United Nations | Tagged: | Comments Off

Climate Change: The Role of Particles and Gases

Posted on September 28, 2008 by markdowe

 
July 1, 2008 Berkeley Lab lecture:
A member of the Atmospheric Sciences Department in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD), Surabi Menon’s work focuses on the human contribution to increasing impacts of climate change. Her talk will focus on what humans can do about the effects of global warming by examining [...]

Filed under: World Affairs, climate change | Tagged: , , , , , , | Comments Off

Hadron experiment and the ‘Big Bang’…

Posted on September 27, 2008 by markdowe

RECREATING THE ONSET OF THE UNIVERSE
THIS MONTH, scientists launched the “Big Bang experiment“. It was an attempt in recreating the start of the universe using the biggest and most sophisticated machine yet built.
After decades of careful preparation and planning and $10 billion of investment, scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (known as CERN) [...]

Filed under: Hadron | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Investment Banking…

Posted on September 26, 2008 by markdowe

DOES IT HAVE A FUTURE?
HOW BANKING, and the world has changed. Up until recently, when banks did quaint things like making money, the Wall Street mantra was: “Be like Goldman Sachs”. Investment banks often peered enviously at the risk taking prowess that generated huge profits for Goldman Sachs. Hardly is that the case today. In [...]

Filed under: Financial Markets, World Affairs | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

North Korea and the Yongbyon reactor…

Posted on September 26, 2008 by markdowe

U-TURN ON DISARMARMAMENT PROGRAMME
UN INSPECTORS insist that North Korea has removed UN nuclear watchdog monitors, seals and cameras from its previously shutdown atomic bomb-making factory. North Korea aims to reintroduce nuclear material at the complex within days. The announcement given in the last day was made by a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency [...]

Filed under: United Nations, World Affairs | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Comments Off

Bon Jovi: ‘It’s my life’…

Posted on September 25, 2008 by markdowe

Filed under: Music Selections | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

‘True and fair’ view…

Posted on September 25, 2008 by markdowe

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
COMPANIES such as Enron that collapsed in the aftermath of the internet bubble demonstrated with pinpoint accuracy the central role of accounting in good corporate governance. Enron, and others like it such as WorldCom, deliberately manipulated their accounting figures and then persuaded their auditors (Arthur Andersen) to sign-off accounts that were, at best, misleading and distorted, [...]

Filed under: Corporate Governance, World Affairs | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Global warming: ‘The methane threat’…

Posted on September 24, 2008 by markdowe

TICKING TIME BOMB
SCIENTISTS are uncovering a new global warming threat as melting permafrost releases millions of tons of methane gas, calculated to be 20-times more damaging than carbon dioxide.
Early findings suggest that huge deposits of subsea methane are bubbling to the surface due to the Arctic region having become warmer and its ice retreating through the [...]

Filed under: European Union, United Nations, World Affairs, climate change, global warming | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Can a ’surge’ work in Afghanistan, like it did in Iraq?

Posted on September 23, 2008 by markdowe

REFLECTION & STRATEGY

THIS TIME LAST WEEK, General David Petraeus, stood-down as the US military commander in Iraq. One of the most impressive qualities of General Petraeus has been his modesty over his own success. US politicians, including President Bush, will no-doubt embrace General Petraeus as a saviour, which politically speaking he has been for the [...]

Filed under: European Union, United Nations, World Affairs | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Luther Vandross: ‘Dance with my father again’

Posted on September 23, 2008 by markdowe

Filed under: Music Selections | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Climate Change and the Developing World…

Posted on September 23, 2008 by markdowe

GREEN CAMPAIGNERS and environmentalists have long argued that the world should concentrate on preventing climate change, not adapting to it. Is that premise now changing?
 Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States and Nobel-Prize winner, said:
… I used to think adaptation subtracted from our efforts on prevention. But I’ve changed my mind.
… Poor countries are [...]

Filed under: European Union, United Nations, World Affairs, climate change, environmental policies | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Rewriting the rules of banking…

Posted on September 22, 2008 by markdowe

BIG IS BEAUTIFUL?
AS SHOCKING as the collapse of HBOS has been, and the takeover by Lloyds TSB an immediate relief for its 22 million depositors, some financial commentators are suggesting that we may not have seen the worst of the problems in the banking sector. Many analysts ponder as to whether the merger between Lloyds TSB [...]

Filed under: Banking, Economic, Financial Markets, World Affairs | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Radical court reforms for Scotland…

Posted on September 22, 2008 by markdowe

JURIES FACE AXE
JURIES could be scrapped for long-running and complex fraud and murder trials under reforms being considered by Scottish ministers.
Such cases would instead be overseen by a panel of judges, following the precedent set in the Lockerbie trial, where three judges convicted Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi of bombing Pan-Am flight 103.
A set of ideas [...]

Filed under: scots law, scottish courts, scottish government | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

HBOS: ‘Questions that need answers’…

Posted on September 21, 2008 by markdowe

SERIOUS CONCERNS OVER THE COLLAPSE OF A SCOTTISH INSTITUTION
IN THE WAKE of the collapse of the Bank of Scotland, there are a whole series of questions that must be answered. Up until last Thursday, the Bank of Scotland was Scotland’s second largest publicly quoted company. The consequences of the merger between Lloyds and the Halifax have repercussions [...]

Filed under: Banking, Financial Markets, scottish government | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Lightning Seeds: ‘The Life of Riley’

Posted on September 21, 2008 by markdowe

Filed under: Music Selections | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Financial regulation: is it needed?

Posted on September 20, 2008 by markdowe

WHILST it is easy to cast bankers and hedge funds as the villains in the credit crisis, the fundamental weakness within the financial sector is that bank lending has seized up. But, in the view of some financial commentators more regulation will harm, not help, economic recovery.
BLAME?
In the previous journal posted to this site it was [...]

Filed under: Banking, Financial Markets, World Affairs | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Banking and reality: Science or not?

Posted on September 19, 2008 by markdowe

MANAGING FINANCE
WITHIN the space of a week the world has witnessed the disappearance from the financial landscape of such venerable firms as Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and the Bank of Scotland. It is inevitable that people will question the competence of bankers. Along with many financial mathematicians, in both the financial sector and academia, many [...]

Filed under: Banking, World Affairs, scottish government | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Poetry: ‘The Bee Orchid’…

Posted on September 17, 2008 by markdowe

THE BEE ORCHID
We returned to the Byzantine path’s
Camomile-strewn marble pavement
And dusty oregano to look again,
Before the snails, for the bee orchid.
 
Pollineum like a brain, the brainy
Bumble-bee disguise. On our knees
Among wild garlic, almost at prayer,
We forgot about adder and lizard,
 
And nearly missed in a juniper
The blackcap’s jet black. We waited
And waited for his connoisseur’s
Restrained aria [...]

Filed under: Poetry | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Toto: “Africa”…

Posted on September 17, 2008 by markdowe

Filed under: Music Selections | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

How we understand climate…

Posted on September 17, 2008 by markdowe

INTRODUCTION
SCIENTISTS have used many methods to determine whether and how human activity is changing earth’s climate. They begin with careful observations of climate conditions, past and present, around the world. Pursuing further knowledge, they also pore over historical records, study ice cores, run statistical analyses, evaluate climate models and look at classifications of large geographic [...]

Filed under: United Nations, World Affairs, climate change | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Global Finance: ‘Maelstrom in the markets’…

Posted on September 16, 2008 by markdowe

FINANCIAL MARKETS
The Guardian’s Editorial, dated Tuesday September 16 2008, concerns the crisis within financial markets, the recent collapse of Lehman Brothers and what actions are now required.
The Editor of the Guardian writes:
… “It is a moment Karl Marx would have relished. From every angle financial capitalism is taking a battering. Late on Sunday one of [...]

Filed under: Financial Markets, Fiscal and Monetary, World Affairs | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Human impacts on climate…

Posted on September 15, 2008 by markdowe

INTRODUCTION
From prehistoric times until the relatively recent past, all people had at least on thing in common. Whether people lived in ancient China or 18th century Europe, they could not affect the climate on a large scale; climate affected them. Today, though, something fundamental has changed. Through people’s actions – particularly the burning of fossil [...]

Filed under: European Union, United Nations, World Affairs, climate change | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

NATO and the Taliban threat…

Posted on September 15, 2008 by markdowe

A ROBUST NATO IS ESSENTIAL GIVEN HISTORICAL PRECEDENT
With each passing day, Afghanistan is a given a reminder of how the threat from the Taleban is a continued and menacing threat. The reminders are clear for all to see: burnt-out lorries appear beside the road, abandoned vehicles hit by missiles and tankers that never made it [...]

Filed under: European Union, Militray, United Nations, World Affairs | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Does Britain need a proper written constitution?

Posted on September 13, 2008 by markdowe

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
Many commentators, such Robert Hazell, argue, rightly, that it is time for a second wave of constitutional reforms in following the first wave that was one of the great achievements of Blair’s first term in office. Mr. Hazell has frequently listed a series of radical reforms which ought to be included in this second-wave, [...]

Filed under: Constitution, scottish government | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Joe Jackson: Steppin’ Out

Posted on September 13, 2008 by markdowe

Filed under: Music Selections | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Bacteria and climate change…

Posted on September 12, 2008 by markdowe

ESSAY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BACTERIA AND CLIMATE CHANGE
THE FIRST ORGANISMS known from the fossil records are bacteria. Ubiquitous today, bacteria are single-celled organisms that possess a cell-membrane and deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA – the chemical carrier of genetic information but lack a cell nucleus – that part of a cell in more complex organisms that function’s [...]

Filed under: climate change | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Book review: ‘Die Hard, Aby!’…

Posted on September 11, 2008 by markdowe

DIE HARD, ABY!
RECENT BOOKS, many by Pen and Sword such as Shot at Dawn, have highlighted the often shocking cases of young British soldiers in the Great War being executed by their own side. All too frequently their trials were cursory, the evidence flimsy and the defence wholly inadequate. Such scandals has appalled right-minded people [...]

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Climate change and the coriolis effect…

Posted on September 9, 2008 by markdowe

INTRODUCTION: WEATHER AND CLIMATE
WITHIN the Earth’s large-scale system of winds, air circulates around the globe and drives currents of water on the surface of the seas and oceans. This global circulation of air arises from the Sun’s unequal heating of the Earth. This, in turn, leads to differentials within air pressure and a redistribution of [...]

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The Cost of Carbon…

Posted on September 8, 2008 by markdowe

MANAGING CARBON EMISSIONS

ATTEMPTS to control emissions of carbon dioxide in the UK are in a muddle. Until the issue is better managed, it will be needlessly difficult in meeting the national target reduction of 60% in emissions, by 2050.
Most environmentalists accept that a financial penalty be attached to carbon dioxide emissions, because mere exhortation is [...]

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My Flight on a Blackhawk helicopter in Iraq…

Posted on September 7, 2008 by markdowe

 
 
- The Black Hawk series of helicopters can perform a wide array of missions, including the tactical transport of troops, electronic warfare, and aeromedical evacuation. Primarily operated by the US Army.

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Taking liberties with DNA…

Posted on September 6, 2008 by markdowe

AN ESSAY ON THE LAW RELATING TO DNA STORAGE
Attribution for this article has been given at the foot to this journal. The article presented here is in my own words and includes a personal testimony: 
BRITAIN requires stronger laws in how it sets limits on how genetic-data can be used. This is a view that is [...]

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