Archive for August, 2010
À la recherche du temps perdu
Posted by Anastasia de Waal in Education on 31/08/2010
Proust’s madeleines may evoke a merry-go-round of warm childish memories, but a trip to Disneyland Paris is the stuff of nightmares, writes Annaliese Briggs.
Report exposes hidden costs of community sentences over custody
Posted by Nick Cowen in Crime on 28/08/2010
The internationally respected former Home Office criminologist, Professor Ken Pease, has shown that it will not be feasible to save money by releasing convicted prisoners from jail. According to Prison, Community Sentencing and Crime, not only does the available evidence suggest that offending will not be reduced, the Government’s hope of cutting expenditure on prisons can only be achieved by ignoring the impact on victims of crime – costs that the Home Office itself has acknowledged and quantified.
3D Incapable
Posted by David Merlin-Jones in Economics on 26/08/2010
A survey has found that very few people are intending to buy 3D capable TVs in the coming twelve months. While this finding has been labelled as a ‘surprise’, it is hardly shocking given the rapid (and perhaps temporary) ascent of 3D TVs into the market. The result reflects not the ‘conservative’ habits of consumers as one pundit believed, but the simple failure of the TV manufacturing companies to notice that demand for their 3D TVs is currently nowhere near supply. Read the rest of this entry »
Borderline policy
Posted by Claire Daley in European Union on 25/08/2010
France’s decision to expel its Roma minority has reignited debate on who should decide citizens’ right to free movement: ‘Should it be the host state or the EU?’ asks Natalie Hamill.
How bad are short custodial sentences?
Posted by Nick Cowen in Crime on 24/08/2010
It is an article of faith amongst some prison reformers that the use of short prison sentences increases the chance of re-offending, sometimes turning a one-time offender towards a life of crime. They are counter-productive in terms of fighting crime, they argue. According to the most recent systematic evidence, this is probably not the case.
The parent trap
Posted by Anastasia de Waal in Education on 23/08/2010
The one GCSE guaranteed not to get any results is in Parenting, writes Annaliese Briggs.