Author Archives: Natalie Bennett

So what’s so special about humans?

December 21, 2007 – 12:36 am

A selection of recently reported research shows that a lot of skills we homocentrically used to think of as special to us can be found in the animal kingdom, and sometimes at higher levels than our own.

1. Dogs have been able to identify different classes of photos – whether they are pictures of “dogs” or “landscapes” – classification by category. (And I can’t wait to see what the Japanese are going to do with the dog-adapted touch-screen computer, given the enthusiasm a few years ago for a canine translator).

2. Monkeys are about as good at mental arithmetic as college students.

If we could start thinking of ourselves as just another animal species it might be a very good antidote to hubris.

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Carnival of Feminists No 50

December 19, 2007 – 10:16 pm

A landmark, half a century, and The Jaded Hippy has produced a far from washed out effort for the Carnival of Feminists No 50.

It ranges widely, from some (sadly) regular topics such as rape, to under-covered issues such as women and financial management. It’s great – so don’t waste time over here; do go over there and check it out.

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Underemployed people

December 19, 2007 – 9:41 pm

Left the bicycle outside the University of London Union at the weekend for a long meeting – came back to find someone had attached, with an annoying great tangle of elastic bands (particularly for cold fingers in near-freezing weather), several leaflets. Not politics – but from “Camden street wardens” telling me that did not approve of the manner in which I had parked my bike.

No – it wasn’t attached to any railings, it wasn’t blocking pedestrians, it wasn’t in the wrong place at all. But it was NOT – shock horror – locked up in the approved manner, with the D-lock through both frame and wheel.

Now:
1. With the shape of bike stand provided it is exceedingly difficult to achieve this with a D-lock.

2. This is a very old, very rusty bicycle, with stickers indicating it is security tagged. (Which it is.)

3. It has a very expensive and good lock on it.

All of which mean that I consider the manner in which my bicycle was locked up was perfectly reasonable, and if it wasn’t, and the bike was stolen, that was my problem – I didn’t need three separate leaflets, with detailed diagrams, to tell me how I should do it.

Now I wonder, does it make sense to employ people to do this, or, to spend the same money to employ people to teach kids who are struggling to keep up in school, or social workers to help families with problems?

Well, no, I don’t wonder at all.

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A weekend in figures

December 16, 2007 – 11:34 pm

ONE QUARTER CHILDLESS: The UK statistics, collated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, speak for themselves: among women born here in 1946, only nine per cent remained childless; of those born in 1952, 16 per cent are childless; for those born 20 years later, in 1972, that figure has grown to 25 per cent.

(That source also suggests that worldwide, 41% of women born in 1969 have no children. That I find hard to believe – no source is given: anyone found it elsewhere?)

TWENTY-THREE PERCENT – the net amount of Chinese carbon emissions that can be attributed to exports.

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Historical reading and listening

December 15, 2007 – 10:37 pm

Don’t know how I haven’t found this before: People in Place – Families, households and housing in London 1550-1720 – great to see academic research being made publicly accessible.

From a similar era, the apparently largely forgotten story of Henry VIII’s very own Vulgate Bible – although typically for Henry, it seems that by the time it came out, religiously policy had already changed so much that it was an embarrassment.

Then, changing continents, I seem to have been following around the Sassanians this week: Zenobia has a discussion on the relationship between their kings and their gods, and Radio Four’s (available in podcast until next Wednesday night) In Our Time starts with Sharpur I and his unfortunate (from the Roman point of view) encounters with Philip and Valerian.

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A win for cycling

December 14, 2007 – 9:34 pm

Good news that the £50m Sustrans bid for cycling improvements won a public bid for lottery money.

Hopefully this means there’s increasing recognition that this is one of the key elements of our transport future (with trains and walking).

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