Unthreaded
Government should not necessarily fund schools. Well, not national government. And they do not need to manage schools or prescribe curricula. Somebody needs to do it, and it is an endeavour where collective action seems appropriate. As is health, but that too does not need to be done at a national level. To be right-wing in this is to reject top-down solutions, to be open-minded about the provision of essential which can't easily done by individuals. So often the left-wing whose very essence is collectivism, insists on collective solutions when a bit of choice would not hurt. And make no mistake, in my view any collective solution involves coercion. It is that coercion which I deprecate.
No, that does not mean I reject all joint action in favour of individualism. Or that I endorse corporations being allowed to do what they like. I will call out any straw man or reductio ad absurdum argument. I am in favour of maximising liberty and personal responsibility.
That's what I call right-wing. I don't recognise the description written by lefties which always seems to be informed by uninformed prejudice by those who don't want to disturb their comfort by asking.
rhoda
@Sandy I suspect such a PR campaign to build a narrative that EVs are a magic solution.
And it looks like someone just sent out more PR
Cos Today's Times frontpage headline is :
"Diesel cars pumping out twice the toxins of lorries and buses"
See the links and details I just posted in The Doctors Against Diesel thread
stewgreen
@Mailman
Mann grandstanding and being clapped by the equally loathsome Bill McKibben?
As clowns go - one has to assume that these guys are merely sock puppets for people with an agenda... ah... I see... The Democratic Party Drafting Committee
That went well then.
tomo
Jan 5, 2017 at 9:57 PM |michael hart
I agree, I don't really know where I sit politically probably just right of centre. I think I'm right in saying that even Adam Smith identified the problem that (some) politicians are struggling with today, the mega-rich.
SandyS
Jan 6, 2017 at 1:39 AM | Pcar
Here in France there seems to be a daily campaign against the internal combustion engine. Either from Paris or the Alps. I reckon France is heading back to the horse quicker than the UK. Today, for the first time that I've heard, someone mentioned wood fires as a contributor. When out on the bike, even on the N147, at this time of year the smell of woodsmoke is everywhere and certainly much more prevalent than diesel fumes.
Now the copy and paste journalists of the snowflake generation has taken on board the internal combustion enginein general and diesel in particular are the work of the devil than there's no going back.
SandyS
"Michael Mann, scientist: Data ‘increasingly unnecessary’ because ‘we can see climate change’"
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/27/michael-mann-climate-scientist-data-increasingly-u/#disqus_thread
Yes, thats right...our friend, with the brain the size of a small warm planet, says we no longer need data...just faith!
Regards
Mailman
Mailman
@stewgreen
Employees are a cost, not a benefit. More employees reqd/MWh = more expense, lower productivity and lower GDP/capita
13 million employed in renewable would produce same power as (being generous) 250,000 in coal powered power.
It's back to pre-industrial revolution times. Next will be Horse/Ox powered power stations " 'cause they're renewable/green"
China, India etc are laughing at us destroying our economies.
Pcar
BBCnews
"China announces programme for 13 million new renewables jobs
......
But skepticism by end of prog China will only be 15% renewables"
Does that mean they'll employ 80 million people in non renewable power ?
Anyway maybe China already gets 15% from dams already
"Hydropower accounts for 20 per cent of the country's total power production"
Ah old trick of saying hydro is not renewables
stewgreen
@Golf that comment was a follow on from the previous where I addressed @EM's link ..So the quote I began with came from @EM's link
"Right wing people tend believe they shouldn’t have to pay for someone else’s education or health service."hence my question to you
stewgreen
@rhoda, Jan 6, 2017 at 5:03 PM
Agree with all you wrote.
Re: Schools
In UK non-state schools (which are called Public Schools, not Private Schools) eg Cameron's alma mater Eton do more or less what they want. However, they are driven by their customers to supply an education that will ensure their pupils succeed or the school closes as no customers.
State/Gov't schools have guaranteed funding: tick boxes, be average, job for life - pupils are a nuisance to be avoided.