Five wonderful short pieces I enjoyed reading this week, love them or hate them. With a bonus blast from the past as No 6.
1. ‘A Tsunami in the Bristol Channel’ by Lord Bonkers (Jonathan Calder at Liberal England).
The Japanese disaster couldn’t happen to nuclear power stations here, could it…? Well – history would suggest it can. Plus here’s a link to Chris Huhn’s thoughts on nuclear after the disaster – I hope he’s read Jonathan’s piece before he makes up his mind.
2. ‘Why Fukushima made me stop worrying and love nuclear power’ by George Monbiot in The Guardian
Just to keep us all on our toes, one of the UK’s foremost thinkers on environmental issues takes the diametrically opposite view and gives nuclear power a big hug. Blimey. Bet he’s been crossed off a few Christmas card lists this week.
3. ‘Boris has disgraced himself by evicting Brian Haw’ by Ian Dunt at politics.co.uk
The same point as my blogpost from a few days ago but written rather more eloquently and with some additional great insight into Brian Haw.
4. ‘What a hyper injunction looks like’ by Niklas Smith on his blog
Bet you didn’t even know what a hyper injunction was (it seems like it’s a supersonic version of a super injunction). Niklas makes the excellent point that shouldn’t we as Liberal Democrats in government be doing something about tools like these – like dismantling them. Rather than leaving John Hemming MP to do it all on his own…
5. 'Why is evidence so hard for politicians' by Ben Goldacre on his Bad Science blog.
Andrew Lansley has been using the right stats but in the wrong way. Sadly he may have lent his homework to Paul Burstow. Anyway, read it with gritted teeth, but nod sagely at its general sentiment – if we’re going to use evidence to back philosophy, use it properly. Thanks to Edis Bevan for pointing me at this
And a bonus. Richard Littlejohn said nasty things about Japan this week. Of all weeks. Here’s Johann Hari’s brilliant dismantling of him from a few years back. Just brilliant.
Enjoy
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