This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Stephanie Desmon interviews Ziyad Al-Aly about the reality that anybody infected with COVID-19 faces a substantial risk of heart problems as a result. And Moira Wyton examines what British Columbia could be doing to limit the spread of the Kraken sub-variant, while Paul
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Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Tracey Harrington McCoy reports on still more research showing significant brain changes caused by long COVID. Joseph Oliver writes that sick kids need people to mask up to alleviate the intolerable pressure on our health care system. And Anne Sosin, Lakshmi Ganapathi
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Can Proportional Representation Save Our Parliamentary Democracy
Parliament – Etymology The English term is derived from Anglo-Norman and dates to the 14th century, coming from the 11th century Old French parlement, “discussion, discourse”, from parler, meaning “to talk”.[2] The meaning evolved over time, originally referring to any discussion, conversation, or negotiation through various kinds of deliberative
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Gary Mason writes that Saskatchewan and Alberta are tragically showing the rest of the country what a COVID-19 disaster looks like. CBC News reports on a predictable spike in COVID-19 following Saskatchewan’s Thanksgiving weekend. And Zak Vescera uncovers the Moe government’s choice
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – John Michael McGrath makes the case for optimism about our potential to avoid further waves of COVID as long as COVID-19 vaccinations overtake the risk of community spread. Brian Platt reports on Nova Scotia’s use of rapid testing to catch a substantial number
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Alex Hunsberger writes that the CERB may be a flashpoint in determining whether the cost of the coronavirus pandemic will be borne primarily by people who can afford it, or people who merely can’t avoid it. Alison Pennington highlights how Australia’s government
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Rick Smith offers some reasons for hope in 2020 even in the face of a grim start to a new year. And Cory Doctorow writes about the need to start dreaming up, and giving effect to, alternatives to a corporate-driven economy and society
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Annie Lowrey highlights how low-income households are bearing the brunt of unequal inflation, as prices are increasing more quickly for their needs than for the luxuries bought by wealthier households. – Paul Krugman comments on the delicate sensibilities of billionaires who refuse to
Continue readingsomecanuckchick dot com: The NDP never did explain…
THE NDP NEVER DID EXPLAIN… WHAT IS WRONG W/ RANKED BALLOT?! In case you forgot, the House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform, AKA ERRE, was an all-party Parliamentary committee convened and empowered to “conduct a study of viable alternate voting systems to replace the first-past-the-post system”, as well
Continue readingCuriosityCat: NDP LEADER EMASCULATES HIS PARTY BEFORE THE OCTOBER 21 ELECTION
With just over a week to go before the (Read more…) NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has made a rookie mistake and reduced his party to the tail trying to wag the Liberal-dog. Singh has ruled out his party supporting the Conservative Party under any circumstances. Because the Conservatives will
Continue readingMy Relulctant Strategic Vote
Here’s an irony. I’m forced to vote Liberal (again) because Justin Trudeau betrayed me. No, it doesn’t make any sense and, furthermore, it pisses me off. But that’s just the way it is. In his 2015 campaign, Justin promised that that election would be the last under the grievously undemocratic
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Noah Smith comments that while we shouldn’t necessarily try to adjust GDP for other necessary elements of individual and social well-being, we should avoid treating it as a catch-all measure in assessing policy choices: GDP does have plenty of flaws, even as
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Democracy on Trial – In the United Kingdom
The New York Times headline reads, “‘We’re in the Last Hour’: Democracy Itself Is on Trial in Brexit, Britons Say.” As I’m going through the article, over on LBC radio, London, callers are having their say on whether the UK needs electoral reform, an end to “first past the post.”
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
This and that for your weekend reading. – Kate Aronoff interviews Mariana Mazzucato about The Value of Everything, including some important discussion about the relationship between governments and markets: Aronoff: You talk a lot about the power of the state in shaping markets. What does the idea that the government
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: THE FIFTH COLUMN 2018-10-13 19:17:00
On Democracy What a better way to restart The Fifth Column than by a treatise on how to make our democracy actually democratic. Hopefully this will be the first posting in a newly regenerated Fifth Column. I write this at a time when there are so many examples of democracy
Continue readingCuriosityCat: FPTP makes Canadians second class citizens
Voters in the province of British Columbia are faced with a dilemma: Does morality require them to vote for political reform because they owe their family, friends and neighbours a duty to take care of them? This dilemma arises because each voter in BC will within days receive a postal
Continue readingCuriosityCat: A vote for FPTP is a vote for legalized theft
Voters in BC are being given the chance to vote for a dramatic change in the way in which their representatives in the provincial government are chosen, as this article shows: David Eby said the referendum would be conducted by mail-in ballot, with the campaign to begin July 1 and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Katie Dangerfield reports on new research showing that carbon pricing can be an economic benefit, while unrestrained climate change would be disastrous. Bill Curry and Shawn McCarthy report that Scott Moe has eagerly lumped himself in with Doug Ford as Canada’s most
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andrew O’Hehir talks to Yanis Varoufakis about the impossibility of building shared prosperity on a foundation of consumer debt and financialization. And the Institute for Public Policy Research offers a discussion paper on the important equalizing role of organized labour – and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Dylan Walsh interviews Jeffrey Pfeffer about his book Dying for a Paycheck, and the ways in which employer demands make people worse off: Has this connection always been there, or has there been an evolution in workplace culture that got us to
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