[Debatewise RRT] Re: merry christmas - A sack full of debates for you!
- From: macmarie123@xxxxxxx
- To: debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:42:19 -0500
Hi,
I'll take:
The tories have everything to lose from a TV debate.
Have a good Chistmas.
Thanks
Marie
-----Original Message-----
From: nadia siddiqi <nadshi@xxxxxxxxx>
To: debatewiserrt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 3:59
Subject: [Debatewise RRT] Re: merry christmas - A sack full of debates for you!
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
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