Archive for February, 2012
Examining the EU’s Sanctions on Syria
Posted by Natalie Hamill in European Union on 29/02/2012
By Anna Sonny
While the rest of the world struggles to agree on a coherent plan of action for Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s troops continue to lay siege to Homs, mercilessly suppressing opponents to his regime. More than 7,500 civilians have been killed since the uprising began last March and the government is still refusing to allow relief organisations into the country. The EU’s latest round of sanctions, agreed on Monday, aim to block the Syrian government’s funding and dry up its resources. But, are these measures enough to force Assad’s exit from power?
Britain needs a state-backed investment bank to end lending freeze
Posted by Nick Cowen in Economics, Press Release on 27/02/2012
Neither America nor Germany rely solely on commercial banks
As George Osborne’s next Budget approaches and the UK teeters on the edge of recession, a new Civitas report reveals that the Government is failing to tackle the key barrier to growth. A lending freeze affecting small and medium-sized (SME) businesses is preventing economic recovery.
Extending Lending, by David Merlin-Jones, shows how state-backed investment schemes in the US and Germany have created better lending opportunities for SMEs, allowing them to expand and replace jobs lost during the financial crisis. Both the US and Germany have seen quicker recoveries than the UK since the crash.
The STEM course cull
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, Education on 24/02/2012
Last December Civitas published the ‘STEM Subject Push’ which examined the take up of STEM subjects in British universities in the last decade. Yesterday the University and College Union (UCU) published ‘Choice Cuts: How choice has declined in higher education’. Where the Civitas publication documented the slow growth or even fall in British students choosing STEM subjects at university, the UCU finds that the number of STEM and other courses offered by British universities fell between 2006 and 2012. Is there any connection between these two phenomena?
No Russian please, we’re Latvian
Posted by Natalie Hamill in European Union on 23/02/2012
By Anna Sonny
Last weekend, Latvia held a referendum on making Russian the second official language. Although the motion did not go through and was never expected to, the referendum has succeeded in highlighting the cultural tensions that have existed within the fabric of Latvian society since the beginning of Soviet rule in 1940.
Self-Government and Judicial Imposition
Posted by Nick Cowen in America, Civil Liberty, Political Correctness, Religion on 21/02/2012
By David Conway
Last week, a dispute was resolved in the English High Court between Bideford Town Council and one of its former councillors backed by the National Secular Society. The two latter had taken the council to court to contest its right to open its meetings with prayer.
In a decision whose ramifications reverberated far beyond this quiet Devon town, Mr Justice Ouseley before whom the dispute was heard ruled all such prayer to be unlawful. He ruled them such, even though, as in the case of Bideford Council, the majority of councillors consistently indicated a wish to begin meetings with prayer and attendance and participation at them was strictly optional for councillors.
England and the Need for Nations by Roger Scruton now on Amazon Kindle
Posted by Nick Cowen in Announcements, British History, European Union, Human Rights on 20/02/2012
England and the Need for Nations, the classic Civitas pamphlet by world-renowned philosopher, Roger Scruton, is now available to download on Amazon Kindle. As the European Union sweeps away the national sovereignty of Eurozone members in an attempt to save the Euro, its central message remains as important as ever, but all the more urgent:
The nation state provides us with the surest model for peace, prosperity, and the defence of human rights. In spite of this, the idea of the nation state is under attack, derided as a cause of conflict, and destined to be replaced by more ‘enlightened’ forms of jurisdiction. This is in spite of the fact that all recent attempts to transcend the nation state into some kind of transnational political order have ended up either as totalitarian dictatorships like the former Soviet Union or as unaccountable bureaucracies like the European Union.