[Debatewise RRT] Re: merry christmas - A sack full of debates for you!

  • From: nadia siddiqi <nadshi@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:59:28 +0200

I'll take blame China
isn't the Eurostar debate already up?

Nadia
Happy holidays to Alex & all :D

On Wed, Dec 23, 2009 at 10:00 PM, <rogers.lewis@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi guys, I'll take 'Cut degrees to two years'.
>
> Enjoy the holidays guys.
>
> Lewis
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
> ------------------------------
> *From: * "Alex Helling" <alex@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> *Date: *Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:24:24 -0000
> *To: *<debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> *Subject: *[Debatewise RRT] merry christmas - A sack full of debates for
> you!
>
>  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
>
>
>
> Use Revisewise @ http://revisewise.debatewise.com/
>
>
>



-- 
Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without
such anxiety, in the calm of self-surrender. Seek refuge in the knowledge of
Brahman. They who work selfishly for results are miserable.   --"Bhagavad
Gita."

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