The Political Thread

[Silent_Bomber]

Does this take into account whether "low-income" in the 1980s was significantly more (or less) money than in the 70s?

It seems to me (sorry if I'm talking nonsense) that if the Median income skyrocketed in the 80s these graphs could be a bit misleading.

Are there any places which have graphs which simply lay out all of the different earning demographics (altered to take into account inflation) and then state how many people were in each demographic in the UK from the 70s to the present day?

[Frank]

It seems to me (sorry if I'm talking nonsense) that if the Median income skyrocketed in the 80s these graphs could be a bit misleading. Are there any places which have graphs which simply lay out all of the different earning demographics (altered to take into account inflation) and then state how many people were in each demographic in the UK from the 70s to the present day?

Not that I can find.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/nov/09/wage-gap-rich-poor-widens-25-years-data

http://www.measuringworth.com/datasets/ukearncpi/result2.php

The above is talking about average earnings, which is of course different from median income. Wages have doubled since the eighties, but so have prices, so things even out - but the longterm trend is for an increasing gap between those earning most and those in that bottom 60% (the majority). That means the burden placed upon the majority of folk by rising house prices has still eaten into disposable income.

[JayzusB.Christ]

A rare thing in Ireland:  A victory of human rights over the joyless old men of the Vatican.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/14/ireland-hold-gay-marriage-referendum

We're getting there.

[Frank]

A rare thing in Ireland:  A victory of human rights over the joyless old men of the Vatican.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/14/ireland-hold-gay-marriage-referendum

We're getting there.

You can see why the Catholic church would be against gay marriage. Given their position on sex outside wedlock, they'd be forced to marry every altar boy they fucked.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I suppose that also explains why they don't see the need for contraception.

[Hawkmumbler]

A rare thing in Ireland:  A victory of human rights over the joyless old men of the Vatican.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/14/ireland-hold-gay-marriage-referendum

We're getting there.

You can see why the Catholic church would be against gay marriage. Given their position on sex outside wedlock, they'd be forced to marry every altar boy they fucked.

But that would be adultry and polygomy! Blessed are our vatican to not hold such moral! They f*ck them and kill them, save's time.

[judgefloyd]

I've always wondered why the push for gay marriage is happening now and not some other time, in general and not in Ireland, I mean.  According to a Gary Younge piece in the Grauniad the other day, some guy in  the USA was trying to get it to happen in 1971.

[darnmarr]

The cabbies discuss gay marraige in Taxi-driver: they are in favour as I recall.

[JayzusB.Christ]

I often wonder to myself whether there'll be another people's revolution in China.  My only evidence is having been there and taught people one-to-one.

Though it would be very rude for a foreigner to bring it up, a bit of chat reveals that absolutely no clued-up person is happy with the government and its system.  The emergence of a new middle class has given a bit of free time to actually think about how the country is run and compare it with other countries.

For this reason Facebook and Youtube are filtered out by the government firewall, but most of the people I knew had proxy software to get around it - and many of them used it specifically to avoid the state-controlled media and glean some objective news about China.

As far as I can see protests happen on a regular basis in places like Tianenmen Square (in which nothing bad ever happened, according to the government, but the people know better) but the perpetrators are quickly arrested and carted away in secrecy, presumably for 're-education' or worse. 

The Mao revolution in its infancy is seen as a golden age by most people, as it was a time when people were genuinely equal (though I suspect Mao and his closest aides were a bit more equal).  There are huge divisions in society nowadays, and corruption is rife.  The countryside is being poisoned at a rapid rate as industry grows.

I remember teaching this I.T. guy, a very pleasant and warm chap as many Beijingers are when you get to know them, who frequently checked outside views of China using his proxy device.  Though it took him a bit of internet translation, he eventually arrived at this impressive statement: 'The government cannot stop the flow of history.'

Anyway, as I say I only have the evidence of having lived there for a short while and met some of the people.  It really does seem like the government is clinging desperately onto power.  Does anyone have a bit more of academic view of the situation there?

[Eric Plumrose]

Halfway there:

Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill

[judgefloyd]

I often wonder to myself whether there'll be another people's revolution in China.  My only evidence is having been there and taught people one-to-one.

I don't have any more academic views, but I meet a lot of recently arrived Chinese people.  My observation is that none of them actually respect the government they have.  Of course that doesn't mean there'll be another revolution any time soon - lots of people don't respect the government here, which is ideal by comparison.  People can put up with a lot of awfulness rather than overthrow the system.  My Chinese students all like their country and see the government as something to be put up with. 

[Ancient Otter]

So what's the opinon in U.K. about arming Syrian rebels? Libya didn't turn out as pro-Western as Nato would liked after all their help....

[Stan]

What? Openly arming insane Al Qaeda jihadists against a country which was basically just sitting there doing nothing (compared to us)? To me, it really is a sign of how increasingly despicable and embarrassing our governments become with each passing parliament when Russia are the guys who deserve a pat on the back.

[Stan]

So yeah. I had a strong opinion on that, I suppose.

[Professor Bear]

Ages ago, I watched Robocop: The Series and had a good laugh at the clumsy satire, like that one where no doctor would perform an operation on a dying child because he was so high-risk that if he died under the knife, their overall statistical rating on a national table of doctors' success rates would take a hit, the hospital would have to pay higher insurance, etc - and of course the ConDems want this exact system for the NHS.  Undeterred, they also want to make further storylines from Robocop: The Series a reality and are thus privatising the courts:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article3776508.ece
I like that the man describing the possible process makes no distinction between someone having to use the courts and someone who is already in jail.  That bodes well.