Gaza: Who Gains?

In the light of Barack Obama’s trip to Burma I had planned to write an article on the American government’s attempts to fend of China’s growing influence by shifting its foreign policy focus towards the Far-East and in doing so extract itself from the Middle-East. I may still write that, but in the context of the resumed hostilities in Gaza talk of American dis-engagement from the region would appear ridiculous. So I've decided to bite the bullet and write something about Israel-Palestine.

The Fiscal Cliff is Coming and it Doesn’t Exist

You may have heard recent talk about the “Fiscal Cliff”, and if you haven’t then trust me you will over the next few weeks. For those of you confused about what the fiscal cliff is don’t worry; everyone is confused by it and I'm about to tell you some things that might make it a bit less scary.  Essentially, over the next few months a lot of temporary laws in the United States are going to expire. These are laws which were brought in saying that taxes would be reduced for certain people for a number of years, or that certain government programmes would be guaranteed funding for a certain number of years. As the time limit on these all finish at roughly the same time that means that quite suddenly government spending will go down and taxes will rise. This has made people worry that the recession will start up again as suddenly a lot of money will be taken out of the economy. Trying to fix this is an even bigger problem as Republicans who control the House of Representatives want to cut spending and keep the tax cuts, whereas Democrats who control the Senate and the Presidency want to increase spending and get rid of the tax cuts. Either way this means increasing the deficit, which is the government’s debt.

What's Your Prediction Now?

I've had a few people make references to my earlier post in the last few days, asking me who is going to the President of the United States in 2016. Now first off I have to point out that my system of “gut feelings” obviously doesn't work as Mitt Romney isn't the President (see also my previous post about facts and whatnot). Having said that I am more than happy to give you some incredibly vague references to people you should be paying more attention to over the next 4 years if you want to impress your friends by possibly guessing who might be president next. I’ll probably hold off making any firm prophesies until the Mid-term elections in 2014 but in the meantime here are three democrats and three republicans to look out for.

American “Conservativism” and the Strange Issue of Faith

So the American election happened and I stayed up to watch it. I stayed up till 8am and my sleep patterns have been horribly messed up for the last few days because of it so that I am now living in UK time but sleeping on American time. Much like that little girl we all saw crying because she was so tired of hearing about the election a lot of people were thinking “thank god it’s over! Now we can go back to living out lives!” but politics is never over and it is continuing to mess everything up. After Fox News’ on air meltdown the debate has now switched to Facts vs Faith, or Nate Silver vs Conservatives which is funny and depressing for a whole range of reasons, and as such it is now time for me to stick my oar in.

The Lost Lighthouses of Siberia

This afternoon I visited the always fantastic Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, a slightly oddly put together gallery attached to Manchester University and making up one corner of the much maligned Whitworth Park. At the moment there is a fantastic exhibition by Jane and Louise Wilson titled The Toxic Camera detailing some of the after effects of Chernobyl. Chernobyl has always fascinated me: in particular because of the abandoned buildings, slowly decaying relics of a lost time and place. I have always loved abandoned buildings and wondering what stories they contained, what events happened there which are now perhaps lost forever.

The Tunnel

There is a scratching on the floor, in the floor in front of my desk. A frantic scratching a scrabbling, scuffling, scrofulous, scratching which only I can hear. I noticed it when they moved me to the new desk I had never heard it before and neither had anyone else. I asked Diane who sits next to me if she can hear the scratching but she says she can’t hear a thing. I asked Dan in IT if it was something to do with my computer but he can’t hear it either. It has been nearly a month and still no one can hear it but me.

A Confession

I often put myself forward as a Sci-Fi fan. There is a lot to of evidence to back up this assertion: I have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Star Trek, one of my favourite films is Blade Runner, I have a collection of Isaac Asimov books on my shelf. Hell I have a selection of flipping Larry Niven books on my shelf. This would seem to be all the evidence to prove that I am both a massive Sci-Fi dork and a boring person to talk to at a party. While the later is certainly true the former is not for one simple reason: I have never seen Alien.