Between 2003 and 2006 I had a blog called “Cabalamat Journal”. That blog is now defunct, but I have a new one: Amused Cynicism.

Uses for a dead kid

Apparently due to Boris, the debate over the value of a degree is raging again. Unsurprisingly, various sorts are criticising the value of ‘academic’ rather than ‘vocational’ degrees. Also unsurprisingly, they’re wrong.

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Deporting Learco Chindamo would be wrong, because Britain is his country

As you might expect in a sunshine-free silly season, the more paranoid elements of society are devoting their attention to a silly crusade. The current one, prompted by the sad death of Scouser Garry Newlove, is What To Do About The Youth Of Today (copyright Hesiod, 800BC).

As part of the moral panic, loony copper Peter Fahy wants to ban all drinking in public and raise the drinking age to 21; the former is an obviously appalling idea (picnic in the park with a bottle of wine? £60 fixed penalty for you, matey), while the latter is unenforceable and grossly illiberal (err, 18-20 year olds are legally and actually adults, so how the hell can you justify taking away their right to drink?). Daily Mail readers everywhere are doubtless nodding their heads in approbation of a man so ruthlessly dedicated to the abolution of fun.

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Your chance to shape drugs policy