Author Archives: Gordon Hector

Cyberpunk political micro-culture

Via the ever-excellent Brainpickings, this nice quote from cyberpunk author William Gibson popped into my inbox: We [are] shaped as writers, I believe, not much by who our favorite writers are as by our general experience of fiction. Learning to … Continue reading

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Minimum Alcohol Pricing – will it work?

David Cameron hinted at plans to introduce minimum alcohol pricing today. Will it work? Will it reduce problem drinking, especially amongst young people? Probably. Possibly.  The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has had a major research programme on alcohol since 2009.  And … Continue reading

Posted in Quality of Life | Tagged , , , | 16 Comments

Is Miliband’s “British Promise” one to watch?

Ed Miliband spoke at the weekend to the Progress conference. It hardly won critical acclaim: a New Statesman blog called it the ‘worst speech he has ever delivered’ and John Rentoul wasn’t impressed by its ‘cliché-wridden verbiage.’ The speech did have one … Continue reading

Posted in Social Justice | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Raw deal or no raw deal?

Paul Goodman’s written a convincing post on ConHome, arguing that Andrew Lansley’s had a raw deal – on the basis that Downing Street signed up to his plans, they let him press on with them, and that as such, Lansley … Continue reading

Posted in Public Services | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rising above the twitterstorm

Laurie Penny’s courting controversy when she asks

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