[Debatewise RRT] Re: merry christmas - A sack full of debates for you!
- From: steph fortescue <globetrotter_k1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:44:27 +0000
I'll take 'Season’s Greetings rather than Merry Christmas'.Thanks!
From: alex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Debatewise RRT] merry christmas - A sack full of debates for you!
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:24:24 +0000
Merry Christmas everyone.
Some debates for festive cheer! I have no idea if you will
have the time or inclination to write any debates over this festive week but I
thought I had better give you the option even if you don’t take me up on
them. My apologies for the debates being a day late, I was too busy with
Christmas shopping yesterday to get round to finding debates.
Alex
Debates:
Cut degrees to two years.
Universities face a funding squeeze from the government,
students don’t want to pay more fees and anyway are getting further and
further into debt while the worth of a degree is increasingly being questioned.
If the government still wants more students to go to university is reducing the
length of a degree to two years the only option?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/mandelson-do-your-degree-in-two-years-1848107.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/23/two-year-degrees-mandelson-proposals
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/23/academics-vice-chancellors-universities-mandelson
Pay more to prepare Britain for snow.
Britain has once again ground to a halt due to the snow.
There has been a chorus of criticism, the government should have prepared more!
Councils don’t get enough gritters out! Our transport system should not
freeze up! Indeed we could prepare better, but it would cost a pretty penny to
do it, for a relatively mild Britain it is not considered worthwhile. A more
unpredictable climate as climate change begins to bite might however change
that.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2009/dec/23/road-gritting-public-services
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/12/23/we-don-t-have-enough-snow-to-budget-for-it-91466-25453895/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6965674.ece
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-157784/Snow-chaos-costs-150m.html
China is to blame for the failure at Copenhagen.
There is plenty of blame to go around for the failure to
reach much of an agreement on climate change at Copenhagen. AoSIS and the G77
pushed too hard preventing a deal between negotiators. The US would not shift
their position. Chavez and other left wing Latin American governments tried to
destroy the Copenhagen Accord. And finally China refused to budge on anything
of significance getting more inflexible as the conference went on. So as the
final spanner in the works does China have to carry the can?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6859567/Gordon-Brown-Copenhagen-China.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/21/copenhagen-failure-us-senate-vested-interests
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6848407.html
The tories have everything to lose from a TV debate.
There is an agreement between the three main UK political
parties to have three TV debates between the leaders of the parties. There may
be more between ministers and their shadows as well. The liberal democrats the
big winners and the little parties the losers as they are not invited. This is
a big gamble for the conservatives. As they are in the lead they risk throwing
it away if Gordon Brown gets the better of David Cameron. On the other hand the
conservatives get a chance to show that Brown’s problems are essentially
of his own making, that while he acts like a leader on the world stage his
policies
at home have not been too successful. Either way democracy is the winner.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/6860005/David-Cameron-will-take-on-Gordon-Brown-in-election-TV-debate.html
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2009/12/david-cameron-debates-brown
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/matthew-norman/matthew-norman-politics-needs-bringing-to-life-and-this-might-just-do-the-trick-1848129.html
Brown has been a disaster as PM.
John Hutton has admitted that it was him who said that Brown
would be a disaster as Prime Minister a few years ago when the trench warfare
between the Brown and Blair camps was at its height. This, along with us
nearing an election, seems like a good time to take stock of Brown’s
failures and accomplishments as Prime Minister. Global deals to save us from
the financial crisis, more aid to developing counties, attempting to be green,
foiling
terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow etc. So a disaster?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/22/john-hutton-gordon-brown-disaster
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/10/gordon-browns-top-ten-dithers.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-richards/review-of-the-year-2009-brown-vs-cameron-1847866.html
Can el Sistema work in the UK?
El Sistema the hugely successful Venezuelan scheme for
bringing young people together through classical music. It is credited with
helping to reduce crime by giving youngsters something constructive to do. With
our obsession with ASBO’s and anti social behaviour in Britain copying
the system is something that some think might have results in Britain as well.
On the other hand the youngsters may be less enthusiastic, they are more likely
to already be exposed to music, are likely to have radio’s and personal
stereos already and Classical music is definitely uncool.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/6866818/El-Sistema-when-music-cuts-crime-and-saves-lives.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4457278.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/tomserviceblog/2008/jun/25/thenewsthatelsistema
Money undermines sport’s values.
The more money a sport gains the more it seems to move away
from its core values and it seems the more likely there is to be cheats. Of
course
the more money there is as a reward the greater the incentive is to cheat to
get that money. This year there have been numerous cases of cheating being
caught such as the crashing of a F1 car, fake injuries and blood in Rugby and a
new hand of god from Thierry Henry. Should sport try to limit the rewards given
for winning compared to taking part like American Football where the less
successful
teams are helped out?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/6866578/2009-was-the-year-of-the-sporting-scandal.html
http://www.squidoo.com/badbehavior
Gladstone the UK’s greatest politician.
Referred to within his own lifetime as the ‘Grand Old Man’
four times prime minister totalling 13 years; introduced elementary education
to England, legalized trade unions and tried to bring about Irish home rule. A
man of grand vision and an idealist goals like promoting harmonious state
system for Europe and ethical foreign policy, attacking imperialism. Possible
competitors for the crown; William Pitt the younger, Robert Warpole, Churchill,
Thatcher, David Lloyd George...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer/6868274/How-the-great-Mr-Gladstone-saved-our-fallen-country.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2009/12/the_legacy_of_gladstone.html
I wonder if it might be an idea to have something like this
as a competition style with us each taking someone to advocate as the
greatest....
The US political system needs reforming.
Gridlock in congress is pretty normal. As party lines slowly
grow wider apart and the moderate middle is squeezed out of American politics a
working Congress gets less and less likely as moderate deals can’t be
done. The other side can always filibuster things they don’t like. At the
same time those bills that do get through congress often have lots of ‘pork’
added on top to make sure they get through, often costing the taxpayers
millions, like the famous bridge to nowhere in Alaska. Does the US political
system need reforming?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/dec/13/america-broken-political-system-obama
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/23/us-government-tax-reform-crisis
Eurostar was unfairly hammered for its problems.
Numerous Eurostar trains failed, including many in the
tunnel itself. Thousands of passengers were stranded unable to head home over
Christmas. Service is now returning after three days of no trains. Eurostar has
been vilified in the Press. However things have been as bad with other methods
of transport; particularly the roads and the airlines. Has Eurostar been
unfairly treated by the press?
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2370897
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article6964944.ece
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/simon-calder-it-is-down-to-travellers-to-lower-their-expectations-1848111.html
Season’s Greetings rather than Merry Christmas?
In a multi-faith Country we should not be wishing everyone a
Merry Christmas but rather we should follow the Americans in wishing Season’s
Greetings. Should we be celebrating ‘Christmas’ when most of our
population no longer practices Christianity? It is however still a tradition
and while we are no longer practicing Christians we still think of the UK as a
Christian country. Anyhow does the naming really matter, Christmas is today as
much a promotion commercialism as it is for Christianity.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23378647-brits-reject-secularising-christmas.do
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/readersrespond/bal-keillorletter1223c,0,2419539.story
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/us/23tree.html
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