tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91782285011648553632024-03-12T23:38:54.061+00:00Effortless mediocrityA rational citizen explores the interfaces between media, justice and economics.Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-77706729546655617362009-03-29T22:59:00.004+01:002009-03-29T23:12:55.470+01:00Moving blog to WordpressI have decided to move this blog to Wordpress from Blogger in order to obtain more stable access. Several people have informed me that Blogger crashes when they try to load it. I have taken the opportunity to give a more descriptive title to the blog. It will be known as "Justice, Media and Economics" to capture the core theme of my contributions. I have transferred over all the posts in Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-25543455712039544902009-03-23T23:08:00.009+00:002009-03-24T08:57:31.616+00:00Victim's LawThe News of the World, a Sunday tabloid, campaigned to allow parents to find out where paedophiles live, the so-called Sarah’s Law. Sarah Payne was a girl who was murdered by a previously convicted paedophile. The campaign has been partially successful and pilots are underway around the country. The police feared vigilantism. This has not happened because the scope of the scheme has been Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-38174010412209216622009-03-22T23:42:00.006+00:002009-03-22T23:59:40.866+00:00Street ViewStreet View is an application from Google which displays a drive-through photographic view of each road. The level of detail captured by the photographic record is comparable to that a passer by might notice. I have used it to explore the streets of my childhood. One wall where we used to play in the street looked so tall to me as a small child - but now it has unaccountably shrunk. The entrance Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-397978628684987792009-03-19T17:07:00.000+00:002009-03-19T17:31:44.468+00:00Victim of the criminal justice systemThe government is placing victims and witnesses at the “centre” of the criminal justice system. The Law Reform, Victims and Witnesses Act will enable anonymity of victims and witnesses in court. Appearing in court is scary enough for most people. Those who are intimidated or vulnerable would be spared having to testify in person against the object of their fears. If more people are prepared to Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-20896065595600889262009-03-17T12:02:00.000+00:002009-03-18T01:16:49.185+00:00The Incest MonsterHow a defendant accused of serious crimes is treated at court reflects the basic moral principles of a society. There are two important aspects of the trial of Josef Fritzl in Austria – its transparency and its fairness. Both of these principles are tested to the limit.The reporters in the Fritzl trial can only stay for part of the proceedings. The court provides edited extracts from the case at Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-3171583422443859992009-03-16T00:37:00.000+00:002009-03-16T11:04:54.240+00:00Age of StupidThe independent documentary film, the Age of Stupid, is about climate change and how our developed societies allowed the planet to be ruined in a period of collective stupidity. It follows a number of individuals in different parts of the world - USA, England, France, Nigeria and India - and shows their responses in intimate profiles. A narrator from the future reflects upon clear warning signs Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-9910674990511684592009-03-12T15:51:00.000+00:002009-03-12T16:03:31.970+00:00Unblock open justice Proceedings in family courts are not open to the public. Most people would agree that any children involved should be protected from unwarranted publicity. Yet there is a problem if the decisions made by judges never reach the public domain. Judges need to be accountable for their decisions, particularly as the lives of children and their parents or carers may be changed forever. The public Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-19281763141785923792009-03-09T13:41:00.000+00:002009-03-09T13:53:24.146+00:00Presumption of GuiltOur criminal justice system achieves a very high conviction rate. Magistrates courts deal with around 1.75 million defendants a year. Only 10% of these are contested. The prosecutors have got better at weeding out the cases for which they are unlikely to secure a conviction. The overall conviction rate is so high (c.99%) that the Ministry of Justice does not publish it in the court statistics. InPraxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-11403794459034445052009-03-03T10:59:00.000+00:002009-03-16T00:26:30.079+00:00Packets of justiceLegal costs used to be based upon hours but this does not provide an incentive for lawyers to be time-efficient. Costs escalated. Managing legal costs involved squeezing down the scale of the work or the hourly rate of pay. Hence, purchasers of legal services shifted to alternative remuneration models with contracts for fixed or formula-based fees.One of the enabling factors for this shift has Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-30442923973288830022009-03-01T23:19:00.000+00:002009-03-16T08:47:44.568+00:00Behind the irony curtainWhy would someone say the opposite of what they mean? The usual explanation is that irony creates an incongruity setting up mockery or humour. It seems a dangerous stratagem if it evinces puzzlement or incredulity in their listener. It can backfire embarrassingly. Yet it prevalent in all cultures to a greater or lesser degree.The benefits associated with using verbal irony must be significant if Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-77245244777518606532009-02-25T23:27:00.000+00:002009-02-26T08:25:07.311+00:00Mathematical operatorsThe reports on school mathematics drop bleakly one on top of the other. Each arrives at the same recommendation: a child needs a teacher to sit down with them and explain it in understandable terms; in other words, individualised learning. The drawback is the cost. Mathematics teachers are in demand elsewhere. The downsizing of the maths-savvy financial sector may have led to a temporary Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-75181424654700030362009-02-24T00:37:00.000+00:002009-02-24T23:38:36.531+00:00Invisible policingThe ancients were not allowed to meet face-to-face with their ruler. They would stoop low to show obeisance. Bowing can be quite a sophisticated art when conducted properly. A vestige of this is to be found in the etiquette when encountering the Queen. The practice is being revived in an unexpected manner. Media types tell us that it is now illegal to take photographs of police constables. As thePraxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-27960176635564453532009-02-20T13:38:00.000+00:002009-02-24T00:03:39.423+00:00Taking liberties with traditionThere are five pubs closing every day in England. This trend has been increasing over the last few years. The pubs are giving way to more modern pastimes such as coffee houses and fast food joints. Beer sales are at their lowest since the 1930s. Supermarkets offer discounted prices on alcohol enabling domestic alcoholism and youth binge drinking. It is rare to plan a night’s entertainment as an Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-67210865547043271462009-02-19T16:53:00.000+00:002009-02-21T13:20:21.503+00:00Faces and placesAustralians gave harrowing accounts of how they had survived the recent forest fires which had burned down their homes. They would have to rebuild their lives from scratch. In the emergency, their priorities were clear – to save family, neighbours, pets and animals. What struck me was that several spoke of their regret that they couldn’t save their photographs. Whereas a house could be rebuilt, Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-13512624997809803462009-02-18T12:13:00.000+00:002009-02-18T23:18:20.560+00:00A call out of the redWhen the phone rings at home on a weekday I am suspicious. The only calls at that time are from people or robots selling me something. But this call was different. First of all, it wasn’t a withheld number. Secondly, it was a mature woman’s voice with a lilting Welsh accent. She sounded genuine. She was trying to get in contact with a neighbour of mine. She had written to her friend but the Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-73663087209340693292009-02-17T13:48:00.000+00:002009-02-21T13:20:59.129+00:00Ticking the right boxes?Suppose you had to get some work done on your bathroom. You meet with the potential plumbers, discuss the job and get quotes. You have all the information you need, you just have to decide. Let’s say that you want to be able to explain the decision to someone else so you want to make it objective. You devise a neat table setting out the important criteria and then score the plumbers. You might Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-34881976772923574462009-02-15T01:36:00.000+00:002009-02-24T00:05:50.826+00:00Chess is dead, long live chess Chess played over the board is dying in Britain. Whether it be in league games, weekend tournaments or junior competitions, there is a dearth of young players whilst there are plenty of older men playing each other. The prognosis is not good for the future of chess. It still seems popular at primary school, but by the time the children reach secondary school the enthusiasm wanes. No doubt there Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-53519643339447911712009-02-14T01:11:00.000+00:002009-02-15T02:30:19.368+00:00Opening the Economist The TV is staring at me blankly from the corner. I have no need to be entranced by some entertainment. I've heard the same news three times. I look forward to pulling apart the plastic wrapper around the Economist and finding an intelligent article. There was one last week about evolution which I found really interesting. It raised the possibility that the outcome of evolution is narrowly Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9178228501164855363.post-351331717869286272009-02-14T01:03:00.000+00:002009-02-15T02:30:39.569+00:00Effortless mediocrityI like television - I like its effortless mediocrity. The internet presents more of a challenge. Laying down a memory on Facebook is helpful, but insubstantial. It's easy to post a comment or status update - but the context should be provided as well - they seem so cryptic otherwise. On the other hand, a book or novel is hard work - at least I suppose it is. The blog is the middle way. Its easy Praxis of Upheavalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208045564965804443noreply@blogger.com0