Category Archives: Other

>Should we let them vote?

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>In many countries around the world certain groups of people are barred from voting. In the UK this list includes:

  1. Those under 18
  2. Certain prisoners e.g. those serving “intermittent custody” (meaning that they are in prison some days and home on others) can vote if the election falls on a day when they’re at home but not if they’re in prison.
  3. Hereditary members of the House of Lords
  4. People convicted of electoral malpractice are banned for five years.
  5. Those permanently detained in psychiatric hospitals
  6. Members of the Royal family can vote but do not do so as it would be considered unconstitutional.

Why do I tell you this? The Economist recently published an article asking that we give the vote to prisoners. I disagree. But do you think we should change who can vote in the UK or any country? In some US states anyone who goes to prison loses their votes for life.

>Catastrophe looms, and the solution has to be bigger than Live Aid.

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>Do you remember the crisis in East Africa that prompted Live Aid? Live Aid brought tremendous benefits. But it was only ever going to be a temporary solution. Now we are faced with a problem even worse than before.

The International Committee of the Red Cross says famine is going to be worse than ever! And where does the famine strike? Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the Central Africal Republic.

What do you think should be done? Is this the world’s problem? Africa’s problem? Or just East Africa’s problem?

>What is life?

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>Most scientists have some sort of opinion on what life is. In fact most would state their opinion very confidently as if it were fact. But there are many tricky situations such as the fact that plants are completely different to animals and insects and that there are plasmas in space that reproduce. What do you think life is and why?

>Can the Marxist vision of Communism ever be realised?

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>Is there ever going to be a time and place where Communism can truly succeed in the basic form outlined by Marx and Engels? There have been many ‘experiments’ along the communist model (Russia, China, Cuba, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam). However, these have tended to rebrand Communism in their own formula to suit their specific needs. My girlfriend has told me that according to George Orwell’s book Animal Farm (which I have so far embarrassingly failed to read), human nature dictates that our greed and desire for increased wealth and prosperity ensures that pure communism is just a dream. However, is this just the opinion of Orwell or can Communism never be truly realised?

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