Why David Cameron is right about Syria
Cameron is right. Continued engagement with the rebels, especially around this sensitive time, will eventually bring results.
Carl Packman
Website Carl is a health researcher; he writes book reviews for Left Foot Forward. Carl has written for the Guardian, New Statesman, Tribune Magazine, and The Philosopher's Magazine and blogs regularly at Though Cowards Flinch and Liberal Conspiracy. He is currently writing a book on consumer debt.
Payday lenders buying personal details at £60 a head
Recently I spoke at a meeting where I asked those in attendance to raise their hands if they had had experience of a text message or an email from a payday lender offering them an expensive loan at interest rates that would make most people weep.
Thatcherism and Ukip are the perfect match
Writing in The Times yesterday (£), Nigel Farage claimed that if Margaret Thatcher was still leader of the Conservative Party there would be no need for Ukip. More specifically he said: “Had she still been in power in 1992, there would have been a referendum on [the Maastricht] treaty, and the need for UKIP would probably never have arisen.”
Bitcoin doesn’t help the unbanked nor does it escape the trappings of an economy based on money
It might seem unpopular to say it now but I once had hopes for Bitcoin.
Anarchists and libertarians may predictably have been excited about the potential of a currency that was neither linked to government or bank manipulation, but I liked the idea of it because P2P (peer to peer) has the prospect of making finance fairer from the bottom up.
‘Peace’ to Xi Jinping may be the authoritarian status quo
Since his inaugural address as President of China, analysts and interested parties have been decoding the message that Xi Jinping brings and what change, if any, can be expected in China.
Review: ‘Unhitched: the trial of Christopher Hitchens’ by Richard Seymour
Seymour is way off the mark with this book. His failure to grasp Hitchens’s capability for political modification is symptomatic of the curious and dogmatic political tradition that Seymour belongs to.
Book review: The God Argument: The Case Against Religion and for Humanism by AC Grayling
Carl Packman reviews AC Grayling’s The God Argument: The Case Against Religion and for Humanism by AC Grayling.
The wait for action on unscrupulous Payday lenders goes on
Payday lending is back in the news today as two reports are released, one after the other, on changes to the regulatory architecture that oversees the industry. Given how much optimism there was last year with the FCA being given new powers, the meat of these reports will come as a disappointment.
Payday lenders aggressively targeting university students
Payday lenders have started aggressively targeting university students who are struggling with student loans. It’s time the government recognised this and took radical action to clamp down on unscrupulous lenders.
George Galloway does debate with some Israelis
Respect MP George Galloway walked out of a debate at Christ Church college at Oxford University last night after being asked a question by an Israeli citizen. Galloway’s response before walking out was “I don’t debate Israelis”.