Category Archives: Politics & Society

>Proportional Representation or not?

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>The UK is divided into 646 electoral regions known as constituencies. From each constituency one person is elected by a ‘First Past the Vote’ system where the person with the most votes wins.

But when that person becomes a Member of Parliament should he/she be representing the constituency or the UK? After all the UK has not voted for them, only that constituency.

So should we have Proportional Representation whereby if 25% of the people voted for party A party A got 25% of the seats in Parliament? What do you think?

>How can we bring peace to Israel and Palestine?

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>Many people were worried when right wing Netanyahu was elected Prime Minister. Those worries have been confirmed for many people with his refusal to stop the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements onto Palestinian territory, and now what can only be called persecution of the 15% non Jews within Israel, whereby children born and educated in Israel are being forcefully exported due to their non-Jewish roots, and Palestinian slums bordering on territories claimed by Israel are being demolished. Israel is now being accused of “cultural genocide” after the Israeli government claimed a sacred tomb in the West Bank that is valued by Jews and Muslims alike.

But can we play the blame game in the Middle East? How can we solve the problems? Is it even possible to bring peace?

>The future of education

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>Milton Friedman (a famous American economist) once advocated a privatized system of education where every new born child receives a certain number of vouchers that can be redeemed at any educational institution right up till PHD level. This would give parents a choice of whether to spend all the vouchers getting their child into a world class school like Eton, or spending the vouchers getting their children into a moderate school but still having some vouchers left over to fund higher education. Though of course parents would be able to spend extra money on top of the vouchers.

Is this a good idea or should education be solely administered by the state?

Any other ideas for educational reform are also welcome (from any country).

>Is the right to parenthood absolute?

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>It is fashionable among modern politicians to say that the environment is the biggest problem facing our age. But many environmentalists argue that the planet is overpopulated. In fact one the most popular documentaries to ever be made, ‘Planet Earth’, features a quote saying that we need to limit the number of people to a level far below its current 6 billion in order to achieve a sustainable level of life.

Then there are all the abusive, and just plain bad parents out there. What gives them the right to be a parent? Is a child always better off with the natural parents?

>China and the US: How far is it going to go?

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>Causes of conflict:

  • China’s sudden growth, especially as it isn’t matching expectations in terms of actual improvements for many, has encouraged a sense of ‘aggrieved nationalism’. People feel angry about the lost century where China was weak and exploited by the West. But they also feel confident due to a sense of ‘positive nationalism’.
  • The US is angry about China’s denial of Tibetan freedoms.
  • The US is determined to protect Taiwan as Chinese control would most likely limit US influence in the region.
  • China and the US differ in many ideological respects. For example the US feels it is necessary to take a strong precense in the world, and be tough on rogue states such as North Korea and Iran. China on the other hand divorces economics from politics, with the view that economic sanctions will only harm the people.
  • In 2001 a US spy plane was forced to land in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter.
  • In March 2009 disagreements over access rights in the waters around China came close to causing conflict.
  • China’s navy has been growing more active in its territorial waters.
  • China is upgrading its military and space capability, and Washington has said Beijing should be more open about its defence spending and strategic intentions.
  • Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan anger China.
  • The US complains that China is maintaining a deliberately weak currency to attract trade, and should therefore revalue it.
  • China is the largest foreign holder of US treasuries.
  • After publicly promising to advocate free trade and no protectionism despite the current crisis, the US introduced duties on tyres.
  • U.S. firms investing in China complain about intellectual property theft, murky regulations, corruption and unfair advantages enjoyed by domestic rivals.
  • China complains about investment barriers on the U.S. side, citing resource investments blocked on national security grounds.
  • Google was the victim of several cyber attacks, which sought to find out names and emails addresses of likely reformers (such as those that signed Charter 08; on the Politics page).
  • The spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama, makes frequent visits to the United States despite Chinese objections.
  • etc etc I could go on.

Many people in the west are calling out for governments to put pressure on China to reform, particularly in the sphere of human rights and currency issues.

But are these people right that the West should attempt to ‘manage’ China while it still has the chance? Or should we be more cautious? And what do you think will happen? Will tensions escalate?

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