Confirmation bias – the tendency for people to be more receptive to evidence that favours their pre-existing beliefs – is a well-known problem in evidence-based argument. But I think there’s a converse difficulty which is far less discussed. Call it ‘confirmation blindness’ – the tendency not to pay attention to evidence that confirms our deeply-held [...]
Last weekend I attended Marxism 2010. It was really an excellent conference, getting just about the right balance between academic and activist focussed speakers and sessions, with as always an impressive line-up. In due course I’ll probably right up a fair bit about it, but for now I just wanted to flag up the personal [...]
Some friends of mine have told me to watch the Channel 4 Dispatches show on the banks, aired last week, but still available online. It took me a while to get through – I kept falling asleep in the long segments of zooming in and out of buildings, the dark filter shots over the London [...]
David Laws shouldn’t resign for being gay or renting a flat. These are perfectly fine, normal things to do and be. People need to rent flats, and people often have lovers. To rent a flat off a lover isn’t that strange either. It’s quite sensible in some ways. Having a lover, of any gender, isn’t [...]
The whole blog seems to have caught election fever, and what with various other priorities pulling my more creative attention away, I thought I might as well stick my oar in and let people know what my personal priorities are going to be around the election. Obviously, I think these should be your priorities too.
Firstly, the challenge to [...]
Guest post by Richard. B
On Monday the New Economics Foundation, a trendy lefty think tank with a penchant for all things green, released a report titled ‘Growth Isn’t Possible: Why We Needs a New Economic Direction’. Building on previous reports on how to transition to a sustainable economy, this report fills out the ‘why’ we [...]
The key headlines of the past few weeks have focused on pre-election measures and proposals aimed at trying to square the multitudinous circles of simultaneously getting the UK’s spiralling debt under control, creating a more equitable system, not cutting key public services, and reforming the financial system in a meaningful way in the midst of [...]
It is rare to hear government ministers predicting revolt. Yet in recent days, the Minister for Labour in Greece’s social-democratic government has done just that. Mr Lomberdos has warned that the package of austerity measures that his government are poised to implement will lead to “blood”. Already Greece has seen strikes and occupations.
Like Britain, Greece [...]
A few days ago I saw the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Those farmiliar with the film will know that it is pertinent in some ways to the situation today. Essentially it the plot revolves around George Bailey who runs a small “buildings and loans” company valiantly helping working class members of the community [...]
The world may be getting warmer, but, for one day at least, it looks as if hell is getting colder. What’s that? A piece of good news from Copenhagen? No, my friend, not one piece, but two! Not only is Europe pledging €2.4bn a year to help developing nations cope with the cost of climate [...]
