[Debatewise RRT] Re: Debates, and we still need GYP mods!
- From: Francesca Haswell <hungrycaterpillar_@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2009 20:16:59 +0000
Hi Alex,
I will take the Iraq inquiry
and
Our future in Space is in private hands
Thanks,
Francesca
From: alex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Debatewise RRT] Debates, and we still need GYP mods!
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2009 19:56:38 +0000
Hi all,
Limited number this week because we are run off our feet with the GYP and I am
sure that those of you who are involved are too. On that note we still need
moderators so feel free to ask for wave invites to do that. Also those of you
who are involved in the GYP we would prefer if you put the GYP as a higher
priority, afterall you can do RRT debates any time, the Copenhagen conference
only comes around once every... hmmm who knows, could be another one in a
couple of years or possibly never again!
Regards,
Alex
The USA should negotiate with the Junta.
Burma or Myanmar as the Junta prefers it is heading towards an election. It is
in the US and world interest for this to go smoothly and be as free and fair as
possible. It seems extremely unlikely that Sung San Suu Kyi will be allowed to
run but her party might. The US should do all it can to encourage this and if
that means establishing some sort of relations they should do so.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/world/asia/05myanmar.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1938752,00.html
The Iraq inquiry is showing that the war was manufactured by the politicians.
Only Blair seems to have wanted to go to war. Civil servants have been marching
into the inquiery and bemoaning how little preparation there was for war, how
information was suppressed and how there was no planning for the aftermath.
They are showing what many suspected already that the Iraq war was entirely
manufactured at the behest of George Bush.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6948283.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/iraq-war-inquiry
http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/
should Christmas cards be politics neutral?
The Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond’s Christmas cards feature the Saltire,
the Scottish flag, and so they appear to be drumming the nationalist drum. The
SNP have therefore been accused of politicising Christmas. Christmas should be
a time when political parties can forget about politics. But is this ever
really going to happen, politicians are political animals, if they can get a
message out through their Christmas cards then why not take advantage of it?
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Christmas-time-politics-and-whine.5891303.jp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/3329009.stm
Should BBC worldwide be sold?
The Government is considering selling BBC worldwide, the commercial arm of the
BBC with revenues of £1bln per year. This has set the government on a collision
course with the BBC who do not want their profit making arm to be sold off.
After all the money made in profits can be ploughed back into making high
quality programming and so indirectly means UK licence payers can pay less. On
the other hand the government is desperate for money to pay off the national
debt.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article6833277.ece
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/dec/08/bbc-worldwide-sell-off
Bankers should pay windfall taxes on their bonuses.
Oil companies pay a windfall tax when oil prices are high so why should banks
not? Indeed banks have in the past paid a windfall tax on their profits.
However this has never before been applied to the bankers themselves. Public
opinion is running high and populist measures such as taxes on bankers may
squeeze some extra votes in next year’s general election. The bankers argue
that such a tax will harm the recovery, all the talent will run abroad,
particularly to Switzerland that is competing fiercely for disgruntled bankers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/dec/07/pre-budget-report-bank-bonuses
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/2009/12/will_biffing_bankers_also_biff.html
Our future in space is in private hands.
Richard Branson has unveiled Virgin Galactic’s new spaceship. Sir Richard is
hailing it as “the start of commercial space travel.” From now on profit motive
may well increasingly be the reason behind space travel and eventually even
space exploration. There are lots of potential reasons why companies would be
interested in space once the technology progresses far enough, not just
telecommunications which we already have and tourism that will soon be
avaliable, but possibly an ideal way to get rid of nuclear waste – or at least
pass it on, firms could develop mining on other planets – drilling for
resources is already a big driver of technology.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/6761213/Richard-Branson-unveils-Virgin-Galactics-spaceship-Enterprise.html
Britain will fall out of the world’s top 10 economies by 2015.
Despite having been the world’s fourth largest economy in 2005 we have now
fallen to seventh. Our economy is the only one in the G20 still in recession
and is in by far the worst position when it comes to recovery. Meanwhile Brazil
and Russia are catching up fast and even Canada a third smaller than the UK in
population could overtake us. Will Britain fall out of the top 10?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/6750844/Britain-risks-falling-out-of-worlds-top-10-economies.html
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=495125&in_page_id=2
Restarting world trade talks would help speed the recovery
Although generally seen as a villan creating poverty in poor countries and only
helping the rich in rich ones world trade does directly follow prosperity or
the other way round. For the economy to be doing well there has to be more
trade, we are already integrated enough that world trade helps almost
everyone’s economies. Countries whose home markets are doing badly need exports
to pull them out of recession while those who are growing want goods as cheaply
as possible to encourage consumers to spend in the shops. So is kick-starting
world trade talks the answer?
http://www.cfr.org/publication/20897/vanishing_wto.html?breadcrumb=%2F
http://www.cfr.org/publication/20893/wsj.html
Use Revisewise @ http://revisewise.debatewise.com/
_________________________________________________________________
Have more than one Hotmail account? Link them together to easily access both
http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/186394591/direct/01/
Other related posts:
