Online Today

A couple of interesting articles I have read today:

The first was this one from the BBC, amongst others, the story later being followed up by USA Today here. They discuss the toning-down by one of the Bush Administration’s officials of reports about climate change, issued by the US scientists. While neither of the articles gives enough evidence to make a judgement, there certainly seems to be a case to answer by Mr Cooney about the ethics of what he did. Ultimately though, you have to ask: what do you expect to get by appointing an oil industry lobbyist with no scientific background to advise on environmental issues? You’ve set the fox to guard the chickens. Good thinking, Mr Bush.

On this side of the Atlantic, things are not perfect either. This entry in the always interesting CoppersBlog got me thinking: the case of the schoolteacher sent to prison for firing an air pistol at a gang of youths who had been intimidating her and her children. The article he quotes is a little old and there is a more recent one here. PC Copperfield makes the point with his subject. While the law and the police are the prima facie candidates for having failed Mrs Walker, ultimately it is society’s fault: We raise the children who do this. We elect the politicians who set the priorities for the police. We make up ‘society.’

What worries me most is the trend. As more people feel that society’s institutions are failing them more they will ignore them, as Mrs Walker did, and seek their own solution. That way lies anarchy.

Escape From New York isn’t nearly as far-fetched as you might like to think.