The Wasington Post reports on a federal program to support cattle farmers: At first, livestock owners were required to be in a county officially suffering a drought to collect the money. But ranchers who weren't eligible complained to their representatives in Washington, and in 2003 Congress dropped that requirement. Ranchers Read more…
G and I went to see An Inconvenient Truth, which is a documentary about Al Gore's efforts to increase awareness of the threat of climate change. I thought that I was pretty well informed about climate change, and frankly expected to be a bit bored. I did not really see Read more…
I wrote here in June about the need for the UK government to work towards decentralized government databases using shared data schemas to allow information exchange between them in a secure, auditable system of information exchange. This would allow us to obtain the benefits of joined-up government systems, while protecting Read more…
The benefits of free trade are hard to explain. Here is a characteristically clear and concise explanation from Chris over at Stumbling and Mumbling.
Human Rights Watch says that the G8 must act on Darfur: “For the third year in a row, Darfur will be on the agenda at the G8 meeting,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This year, the G8 must make a decisive public statement. As the killings Read more…
I wrote about the US-UK extradition treaty on seven months ago. Now that it is in the news again, I want to to be very clear about the problem with this treaty. The problem is not that the US Senate has not ratified the treaty, nor is that the treaty Read more…
Syd Barrett, one of the founders of Pink Floyd, has died. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, Pink Floyd's first album, must rank as one of the finest debut albums of all time, and it is a testament to Barrett's genius. As Barrett became more unreliable, possibly because of Read more…
From the Center for Global Development website: Donor countries have committed themselves to increase aid to developing countries by 60 percent over the next five years; and larger increases would be needed to meet the Millennium Development Goals. But there are concerns that there may be a limit on the Read more…
Fascinating article by Alan Beattie (registration required) on what he says are five common myths of world trade:
1. "Ghana is allowed to sell raw cocoa beans to the European Union, but if it exports finished chocolate it gets hit by big tariffs."
2. "Each European Union cow gets $2.40 a day in subsidies, more than what 1bn people each have to live on."
3. "The World Trade Organisation is undemocratic and secretive.
4. "No economy ever got rich without using tariffs to industrialise."
5. "Cutting rich countries' farm subsidies and tariffs will be a big boost for the world's poorest."
The US Congress is currently discussing an issue which sounds rather technical and dull but which could have profound implications for the future of the internet. If you care about whether the internet remains innovative, vibrant and open you should pay attention to the obscure-sounding question of net neutrality.
The issue is simple: should internet service providers be under an obligation to carry all network traffic without discrimination? Those in favour of net neutrality say that such a requirement is needed to protect the open, innovative nature of the net. Those against net neutrality say that market forces will ensure continued innovation and that legislating this requirement will stifle investment in new broadband services.