Dear All,
I will be away tomorrow talking in Lancaster. Here are the details in case any of you can make it.
On Wednesday 24th November I will be in Lancaster for the official launch of The Debt Generation. I will be speaking at 3 different events in the city.
Lancaster Central Library – 1pm to 2pm
Banks or Books? What do we value? Part of the ‘author talks’ series.
Lancaster University – 3:00pm
Location: Frankland Colloquium Room, Faraday Building Lecture
The Debt Generation – Public lecture and discussion organised by Lancaster University Against the Cuts to coincide with the national student day of action against tuition fees.
The Gregson Centre, Moor Lane – 7.30 pm
The Debt Generation – Public meeting and discussion. The meeting is being hosted by North Lancashire Green Party.
The evening meeting will be filmed and put up on thedebtgeneration youtube channel.
Good luck with the talk, I look forward to the video.
3 very different audiences there, fella! Good luck with that.
500 mile round trip not really practical so count me out, but I look forward to the youtube presentation. Bring the show further south and my attendance and support is guaranteed.
Now that will be a good cut to make, 80% of all so called "social science" depts.
Instead of kids wittering on about Wittgenstein, or pretend sciences such as Socialism and economics, or the new inductive god Gaia.
We might get on with some real science instead and really make a difference.
In a way the financial sector and the public sector suffer from the same problem Ibn Khalduns Orange grove theory of history, or in other words, as soon as a society becomes the dominant culture, thereafter starts its decline, or to put it more in Ibn's thoughts,any society that is going so well that they have time to relax and plant orange groves is henceforth doomed.
Sean,
Your comment reminds me of the quote always attributed to Goebbels – "When I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun." He hated intellectual witterers too.
If you really want such a narrow church of allowed pursuits that you personally approve of, then this is not the place for you and you should move on. If you're just boiling over with anger, I understand, but ask you to think about how intollerant and narrow minded you sound.
Be angry constructively. If you can't do that and really are as anti- intellectual as you claim, then goodluck and pleaae close the door behind you on your way out.
I'm guessing Sean is cross-threading! 🙂
Note to self, "Don't slag off the Social Sciences."
Although I must admit that it has always worried me that our institution provides a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Finance.
I quite like the orange grove theory too. We believed we had earned our orange grove, we deserved it, but had stopped working for it. Now there are all these demos demanding the return of the orange grove, but it's gone, dead. We let it die because we allowed our leaders to fool us into believing it was ours by right.
Anyway Golem, to get back on topic, I've been through the Green Party policy with a fine tooth comb and while it addresses 'corporations' with premises in both developed and developing worlds, there are no concrete measures that address the massive environmental damage caused by industry in the developing world for export to us. And this industry results in a huge net increase in pollution, and a transfer of employment and revenue from here to there.
Hopefully you can have some influence tonight.
As ever, Unclear.
Did I say close all the social science depts? NO I said cull 80% of the budget! AND spend it on Science. That in no way can be viewed as Anti-intellectualism.
Once again a lefty with a straw man argument.
As for Gobbels/Nazi SLUR, my grandfather was Polish and his war started on 1 sept 1939. He made his way to England via Norway then fought his way thru Belsen to Hamburg as he lived in a German speaking part of Poland he was part of the Denazification programme in Germany after the war. I know first hand about the National Socialist and statist thinking.
Social "sciences" are part of the problem!
In response to an article on Ireland’s problems I wrote this comment in the Guardian.
“What I can't understand is who are these bond traders that are allowed to bring countries down. Why can't a law be passed that states that no bonds whatsoever will be repaid for ten, even twenty, years? Do the Eurozone rules prevent that? No country is safe if these, whoever they are, traders are allowed to attack with impunity. It seems to me that anarchy reigns in the financial/banking world”
After much ridicule I was referred to your wonderful web site and your most informative article on who the bond holders actually are. Thank you.
So I live in New Zealand. I am a 71 year old Pakeha. I receive the same amount of Superannuation everybody receives in New Zealand whether they are rich or poor and I have some savings. I have tried to educate myself (and continue to do so) on the economic muddle the world is in. If some of your commentators find my comments ignorant because of the above just explain – they don’t need to be rude.
It seems to me the bond traders are buying and selling, discounting, borrowing and lending, shorting and longing, slicing and dicing Government Bonds. Neither the Governments nor the traders show any real concern for the people nor who is destroyed. AND those Traders are picking off the smaller countries. I must admit to some self interest. I love this country of mine but it is small, we have a horrible private debt and we are very very vulnerable. Thank god we are not in the Euro zone. Surely there are other options to self destruction. For instance couldn't there be two sorts of currency – one for internal transactions and one for external transactions. Governments could print as much money as they like for the former. I would love to hear some of your readers’ comments on possible alternatives.
Keep up the good work.
Patricia
Hi Sean
A few more scientists and engineers will help, but industry does not spring from the minds of scientific intellectuals, in general.
I think you need to be clearer on what you mean by 'social sciences' – this is a very broad brush-stroke.
I am an engineer, but I rely on people trained in non-scientific disciplines to design my artwork, product enclosures, software user interfaces, accounting systems; advise on business plans, employment procedures, corporate law; keep the dangerously insane from my doorstep; etc.
I'm sure even the great Isambard Kingdom Brunel relied on similar people.
Perhaps by 'social sciences' you're referring to that horrible subject 'social studies' that used to be taught very inadequately in schools?
Hi Golem,
Do you have any future talks around the corner?
@ Sean. Not sure what you mean, but you sound like a philistine?
Ian.