The Star Spangled Banner The American Revolution and Constitution were achieved by a group of the most Enlightened, educated and idealistic people who have ever lived. Their ideals remain the most hopeful set of political ideas we have, and not just for Americans. So when Lady Gaga got up to sing the theme song “Oh, say have you seen……..” it still remained the last, best hope for a world beset by dictators, maniacs, fanatics and ignoramuses. Thanks America, and Lady G. for a truly moving moment

The Civil War 1861-1865 A large number of (Northern) Americans risked it all to prove that hatred, bigotry and cruelty are not only inefficient, but they can also actually lose. As for the Glorious Myth of the Antebellum South, the term “Proto-Nazis” comes to mind, for want of less polite epithets.

The New Deal Franklin Roosevelt not only rebooted Capitalism (thus defeating Communism) he strengthened America’s economic sinews to such an extent that it basically carried the production burden of all the Allies in the Second World War. Goodbye Nazis a second time! The social settlement achieved lasted as the world model until at least 1980, the most powerful exercise of soft power ever attained.

NASA Not for the spacecraft, astronauts or web site, though all are of the most admirable quality. We’ve picked them for our award in project management. From a nothing start, step by incremental step, through Mercury, Gemini and Apollo until two of their own stood on the Moon. All in eight years. Compare that to George W Bush‘s foreign policy and you may begin to grasp where things have gone wrong lately.

The Food An old soldier of His Britannic Majesty’s army once told us of how, one afternoon in Burma, with the British supply chain having failed once again, the Americans showed up in a jungle clearing and took things over. Not only was the food infinitely better, but they made the Officers queue up with the Other Ranks (Enlisted Men), to the utter chagrin of the former. It’s pretty much the same wherever you go in America from democratic diners like McDonalds up to the top range, comparable to anything in Europe. And bigger portions.

Muhmmed Ali Proof that not every boxer is a brainless thug came in shape of this gifted sportsman, whose mind was every bit as nimble as his steps in the ring. As for his thoughts on why he refused to join the pointless Vietnam War, we are no longer permitted to quote them in a family blog. But he was right.

Hollywood Has had every epithet thrown at it you can think of, from highbrow Marxists to crazy conspiracy theorists. It can be vulgar, trashy, simplistic, horribly American-and more. But has taken the human experience and distilled it intelligibly across the whole planet, giving us moments of unforgettable joy, pathos, laughter and song. The commies gave us Eisenstein, who is OK for those who struggle to sleep at nights, but unwatchable for anyone else.

The San Francisco Police Department Forensic Lab, Hunter’s Point, Ca. OK, bit of a personal one. But when one of our staff writers visited it, more than twenty years ago he was treated with a kindness, courtesy and interest which should be a model for professional exchanges everywhere. And lunch thereafter, in what was reputed to be a converted bordello. The heavy flock wallpaper suggested something had been going on, that was for sure.

The University Cluster Harvard, Yale, the various UC’s, Princeton, MIT………we could go on and on. A conveyer belt of excellence driving Defence, IT, NASA (see above), the banks and every other aspect of what still (just) the world’s most advanced economy. If we have missed your alma mater, please write in and tell us, although Bible Colleges in Southern regions need not waste their time.

The National Parks Europe thought it had given the world heritage in the form of all its cathedrals, art galleries and all that stuff. They forgot Nature, which can look every bit as good as a Vermeer. Starting with Yellowstone, the US pioneered the idea of fencing off and preserving the best bits of the great outdoors, until everyone wanted to copy it. How poor we would be without them!

It remains to be seen how many of these things might yet exist in ten years’ time if Donald J Trump or his acolytes are returned to power. We hope any Americans reading will draw the appropriate conclusions.

#donald j trump #national parks #NASA #muhammed ali #hollywood #harvard #franklin d roosevelt

stories that caught our eye

Cause of Depression; So, what is it? As for most mental infirmities, opinion is divided. It would be nice to know, because its effect can ravage the lives of sufferers and their families. The neurotransmitter serotonin has always been in with a shout, and new study, her reported in The Guardian, gives credence to this conjecture:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/05/study-finds-first-evidence-of-link-between-low-serotonin-levels-and-depression

Help with depression Ever since the publication of Aldous Huxley‘s The Doors of Perception, the role of psychoactive substances in mental health has intrigued some medical researchers. So, can psilocybin help sufferers. Here’s the Guardian again

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/nov/02/magic-mushrooms-psilocybin-alleviate-severe-depression-alongside-therapy

Global Warning COP27 is on us again, and even the British Prime Minister has noticed. But what can we expect? Nature Briefings has it all in this extract and link!

It’s been a year since global leaders renewed their climate pledges at COP26, the landmark United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, UK. On Monday, global leaders will convene in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, during COP27 to carry on negotiations aimed at reining in global warming. The short-term outlook is daunting: global energy prices are spiking, spurring fresh investments in harmful fossil fuels. The good news: renewable-energy installations continue to rise globally, and many countries have made new climate commitments this year.

What to look out for:

• A key issue at COP27 is ‘loss and damage’ finance — how to pay for the mounting impact of climate change on the countries that did the least to cause it and can least afford the destruction it brings.
• Much of the focus will be on evaluation, assessment and accountability. “We can’t just move on to new commitments without getting a grip on whether the current commitments are being carried out,” says climate-policy analyst David Waskow.

Nature | 6 min read

Unpleasant Pleasures The subject of drugs comes up again in this rather unpleasant Cautionary Tale from The Conversation, starring the popular actor Matthew Perry (who he?-ed) We say: don’t take ’em, unless your Doctor tells you to.

https://theconversation.com/what-long-term-opioid-use-does-to-your-body-and-brain-193494?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Lat

Weaponising Rape The Russians have a bit of form here (see Germany 1945) so it’s no surprise to see that once again they are using mass rape as an instrument of war. Perhaps if Mr Putin reads this, he might think “Oh gosh, I’ve got this all wrong, I’ll put a stop to it right away!” And then again, perhaps he won’t. CNN has the details

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/11/02/europe/russia-ukraine-kherson-sexual-violence-intl/index.html

This week’s song The Commitments Survivors of the 1990s will recall that feel good film, rich in music and social texture So we’ll close by offering you this jolly video showing the band at its exciting best

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=The+Commitments+Mustang+Sally&docid=608015413690381795&mid=0B20116C42364428C7FF0B2

From the Editorial Board

Learning Science and Society is more than just another office block near East Croydon Station. It’s a thriving, industrious community, all working away happily in our different roles. At the top, there’s those of us on the Board. Alright, our offices may be just a tiny bit larger, our catering a little more finely tuned, our salaries a tad higher, and so on. Yet that is more than compensated for by the heavy load of responsibilities we bear, the burdens, as t’were, of higher office. And we never forget that underneath us lies the busy world of admin, HR, editorial, security, IT, cleaning and maintenance, and all the other departments whose names we cannot entirely recall at this moment. However, we’re sure they’re all hard at it, (all those cameras aren’t just for security) and once again we regret that this year’s pay settlement was a little skewed towards the higher grades, but those are market forces, and that’s the way it is.

So, to recognise the enormous contributions of all our staff, we have invited them to suggest their favourite cocktails for this week’s column, and the board itself has chosen the best three contributions, which will be mixed for us at this year’s Editorial Board Christmas Lunch. We know the employees will be grateful for this, and for the egalitarian company ethos which thereby implied. Thus, without further ado, we present:

The Club To a mixing glass add four ice cubes, 1 measure of Irish Whiskey and i1teaspoon of grenadine. Flick in 2 dashes of angosturas, and stir. Decant to a cocktail glass, minus ice and decorate with a lemon rind and a cocktail cherry.

Burnt Orange Put four ice cubes intoa mixing glass and add the juice of half a Valencian Orange. Add three drops of angostura, and three measures of finest French Cognac. Stir, stain to a chilled cocktail glass and decorate with a slice of orange

Gin Tropical To shaker, add 6 cubes of ice, 2 measures of gin, 1 measure orange juice, 1 measure lemon juice and 1 measure of passion fruit juice. Shake ’em ’til you break ’em, and strain to a tumbler. You can top this with plain cold fizzy water, but don’t overdo it, or you’ll kill the flavours Decorate with an orange slice.

And so we will toast our employees, thank them for these suggestions and another year of labour, and hope to offer a similar scheme next year.

#cocktails #industrial relations #christmas lunch

China.

Ok, LSS is a Whig website, but we, like the original Whigs, can never escape our Puritan origins. You know-if you ain’t suffering, it’s not really working. Save every penny, live lives of relentless austerity and virtue, and all will be well. You find its echoes in films like Apocalypse Now, with the implications that the Americans jolly well deserve lose because they spend their free time at strip shows, while the austere Vietnamese will triumph on their diet of boiled rice and rat meat. Even old Max Weber [1] got in on the act with a story of how simple living Protestants vanquished free spending Catholics and created the Industrial Revolution. Societies of ants-all sobriety, thrift and work- will always prevail over grasshopper communities where everyone spends their time in activities like gambling, art galleries, sex, parties, and generally living it up. A sine que non, and we have always believed it.

Until a funny little man called Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733) came along. He was one of those transnational thinkers who show Europe at its best, starting out Dutch and ending up English. The Holland of his youth was an intensely Protestant society, endlessly sermonising itself to eschew vices like tea and cherry brandy. Except young Bernard couldn’t help noticing how all the money to pay for Holland’s greatness (it was a major power) came from taxes on the imports of wicked things like tea and spices brought in by the Dutch East India Company. That the merchant fleets of this company could be quickly transformed into warships to enforce Dutch security. In other words: Holland has got rich by doing exactly what it tells itself it shouldn’t.

When Mandeville got to England, he published his thoughts in a book called The Fable of the Bees, or, Private Vices, Publick Virtues. [2] . to quote wikipedia, Mandeville

describes a bee community that thrives until the bees decide to live by honesty and virtue. As they abandon their desire for personal gain, the economy of their hive collapses, and they go on to live simple, “virtuous” lives in a hollow tree. Mandeville’s implication—that private vices create social benefits—caused a scandal when public attention turned to the work, especially after its 1723 edition.

Mandeville dares to question the idea that simple ideas of virtue (Christian at that time, but later inherited by many stripes of Reformers) could actually be inimical to the creation of wealth and prosperity. That paradoxically, the good society is the result of many people joined in selfish competition, none of them motivated by altruism in the least It’s a powerful question, for it cuts to the heart of the personal motives of the reformers, and what they hope to achieve.

Is The Fable propaganda, a curveball thrown by a wicked ruling class designed to sap Progressives’ confidence in themselves? Or a useful antidote against fanatics like Communists or ISIS, whose own murky motives become clear shortly after they assume power? One thing is certain; as soon as we read it it made us think, deeply, about our own ideas and assumptions. And that is always a very good thing.

Editors note: In the course of researching this article we discovered that Holland, the Netherlands and the Low Countries are all the same place.

[1] Max Weber The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism 1905

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fable_of_the_Bees

#virtue vice #communism #puritanism #economy #society #hooland #netherlands

Like it or not (we don’t care), immigration is the hot button issue of our time. The dread it inspires in large sections of the host populations has become politically destabilising. And thereby inimical to progress in so many more important areas such as climate change, medicine and education. There are ever-more hysterical calls to get tougher and, more brutal with migrants. All futile, like the cries of angry prohibitionists for tougher enforcement of the booze laws a hundred years ago. Cruelty only works on the people you catch. If violence worked as a deterrent, no one would ever join armies, for fear of the dangers they face.

These advocates are like the quacks who posed as healers before the advent of medical science. Whose successes have taught us that if you want to stop something, you need understand its deep causes. Fortunately, we have arranged a series of clicks by which you can read more on this very trope, dear readers. [1,2.3] Yet deep down, it’s simple: people migrate from bad economic conditions in the hope of finding better ones. Like charged ions in an electric field, they move along gradients of money. So the UK receives rather few immigrants from prosperous Denmark, but many from poor Albania. The advent faster communications such as aeroplanes, or cheap labour ideologies, certainly speed the process. But it would happen anyway.

The only certain prevention would be a concerted effort to raise standards of living, political and social rights and environmental quality, in the countries from which people emigrate. This in turn would require a considerable transfer of funds from rich countries to poorer ones. Tricky: because the very people who call most loudly for immigration prevention (the Dog and Duck, Daily Mail crowd) are also those who hanker most strongly for cuts in foreign aid. But until such action is taken, mass immigration will not go away. Only a World Government would have the strength and authority to carry out such transfers. And it would be right for so many of the other problems we have alluded to as well.

[1] https://www.lirs.org/causes-of-immigration/

[2] https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/why-people-migrate-11-surprising-reasons/

[3] https://fullfact.org/immigration/why-do-international-migrants-come-uk/

#immigration #emigration #migration #poverty #inequality #world government

stories that caught our eye

Nasty Serbs Every playground bully always has a couple of smaller boys who want to join his gang. Putin has Byelorussia, and now Serbia. What drives so many Serbs to the side of evil? The answer may be delusions of grandeur, as Tomislav Markovic explains in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/28/the-cult-of-putin-in-serbia-reflects-a-nation-that-has-still-not-dealt-with-its-past

Surprisingly Bent Imagine if you could fold up your mobile phone and tuck it away. You can’t, of course, because the battery is so rigid. But now new discoveries in materials science suggest types of conductors/chargers that can be bent and shaped like play-doh, Here’s Stacy Liberatore for the Mail

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11358197/Play-Doh-like-new-material-bends-like-plastic-conducts-electricity-like-metal.html

Cuts now, knife crime later Why do people turn persistently to self-destructive behaviours like gambling, alcoholism, and violent crime? The answer may well be that failure to control impulses may be linked to childhood deprivation, as Richard Tunney makes clear for the Conversation. Any Government thinking of massive welfare cuts may be storing up trouble to come.

https://theconversation.com/deprivation-in-childhood-linked-to-impulsive-behaviour-in-adulthood-new-study-190858?utm_medium=email&ut

Irresponsible, that’s what you are We mean you, Bolsonaro, the man who wants to burn out the lungs of the planet. We don’t know what drives this man and the sinister groups that back him, but one thing is certain. The world will be in a far more perilous place if he succeeds. As this piece in Nature Briefings makes clear

As Brazilians prepare to go to the polls on Sunday, a Nature editorial argues that a second term for Jair Bolsonaro would represent a threat to science, democracy and the environment. Bolsonaro charged into office four years ago denying science, threatening Indigenous peoples’ rights and pushing a development-at-all-costs approach to the economy. This weekend, Brazilians will go to the polls in the second round of one of the country’s most important elections. Bolsonaro is standing for re-election against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Workers’ Party leader who was president for two terms between 2003 and 2010. Lula is not without baggage — he spent 19 months in jail as a result of a corruption investigation, although the convictions were annulled in 2021. However, he has pledged to achieve ‘net zero’ deforestation and protect Indigenous lands, if elected.Nature | 4 min read

Off the ball Fans of the satirical magazine Private Eye in the 1970s will remember the saga of the hapless Neasden FC and its ashen-faced manager Ron Knee. Now the real thing has come along in the shape of Durham City AFC, whose record of goals conceded, matches lost and relegations endured makes the doings of the North London outfit look positively accomplished by comparison. Here’s George Simms for I News

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/durham-city-afc-inside-england-worst-football-club-1935944

#serbia #russia #materials science #crime #addiction #cuts #bolsonaro #lula #brasil #football #durhamcityafc

If ever two art forms were born together, grew and mutually nurtured, it was the movies and cocktails. Seen as a cultural trope, they were children of the interwar period from 1919-1939. Both evoke the world of stylish glamour captured best in the art deco buildings of Manhattan, as Fred and Ginger danced from peak to peak across the concrete towers and chasms of that mighty metropolis. Since when both Film and Cocktails have sat together in many great era-defining moments.

So it’s only fitting that this week we dedicate our little blog to some of the great movie cocktail moments. And before you all shout “Bond!”, a warning. Yes, the stylish spy is in there, but our researchers have uncovered many other great moments from the silver screen across not one, but two excellent sites![1] [2] Among the highlights you’ll find the White Russian (The Big Lebowski) the Orange Whip (The Blues Brothers) a French 75(Casablanca) a Vesper Martini (Casino Royale) and a humble glass of Chardonnay (Briget Jones’ Diary) If you’ve got any of these films, now might be the night to put them on, crack out your mixers, and wolf one down at the exact same moment as the actors in the film do. (how do they do all the takes without the actors getting drunk?-it’s a permanent mystery to us)

And our own favourite, sadly not on the lists. It’s superb stylemeister Cary Grant, chatting up Eva Marie Saint in North by North West. [3] Sadly the clip we’ve clipped does not contain Grant’s classic reply to the waiter “Yezz pleaz, a Gibson.” But it’s firmly on the table in this elegant railway scene,and looks far better than a can of Special Brew. How travel has gone down since those days!

[1] https://www.delish.com/restaurants/g325/movie-cocktails/

[2]https://aspiringwinos.com/cocktails/iconic-cocktails-from-movies-and-television/

[3] https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=north+by+northwest+yon+train&&view=

#cocktails #fims

If there’s one thing that keeps most people on the straight and narrow, it’s the thought of retiring to a comfortable old age. You won’t go out throwing bombs, joining revolutionary parties or selling cranky newspapers outside Tube stations if it imperils your chances of spending quality time with the grandkids or blocking airport lounges with your unfeasibly bulky luggage. As the Capitalist Class, bless ’em, has always known.

Until relatively recently, the system had worked well. Pension funds took a slice of your money, invested it , and at the end gave you a lump sum which was then used to buy an annuity, and off you went to buy a car/boat/Benidorm villa, “au pair” or whatever. But now there are real fears that the whole scheme has seized up, leaving millions seriously out of pocket. Samantha Downs [1] has an excellent article here, but we’ll try to summarise a little below.

After the crash of 2007-2008 the world was only saved from disaster by quantitative easing, that strange but necessary global lowering of interest rates which kept the world running on life support. But pension funds carried on buying gilts, understandably, as they looked so safe. However, post Covid, interest rates are rising, and so are the values of gilts. (The price of any bond, such as a gilt, will always fall as the yield rises. And these yields have to rise to compete with interest rates offered elsewhere.)

Suddenly, the value of the stuff you need to buy an annuity has fallen away, with little hope of getting back up any time soon. A lot of people will find their retirement to be penurious. Which is always worse when you weren’t expecting it. In countries dependent on the grey pound, that will leave a big gap in discretionary spending. More worryingly for us a compact of understanding between the system and its loyal subjects has been broken. Younger people will start to entertain real doubts about their own futures. And who can blame them if they start to look for alternatives?

we thank Mr Peter Seymour for the idea behind this story

[1] https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/money/pensions-and-retirement/pensions-time-bomb-warning-biggest-fall-30-years-1640816

#pensions #gilts #bonds #annuities

For sheer courage, and the hope of the world, nothing is so admirable as the struggle of Iranian women against their malevolent and tyrannical regime. Braving tear gas, clubbings, live rounds and hundreds of deaths and injuries, they daily fight everyone’s fight against bigotry and oppression. And for what? So that each may choose whether or not to wear a simple headcovering, the hijab. They are certainly not trying to ban the garment. But the mere fact they demand this choice is enough to send the misanthropic brutes at the summit of the Iranian regime into paroxysms of fury and violence.

Today will simply provide you with a useful summary of the women’s cause, by Nifoofar Hooman of the Conversation, looking at the balance of forces on each side and where we are today.

And our thoughts? The ancient fools who run Iran are looking for blood in too many places. Just as they supply Russian tyrant Putin with more means to pursue his genocide in Ukraine, they face massive opposition at home. “The hour of destiny has struck upon the clock.”

https://theconversation.com/the-protests-in-iran-are-part-of-a-long-history-of-womens-resistance-191551

#iran #womens rights