CJNBlog

Various schemes have been proposed like GMI - Universal Basic Income, for one. I'm not that au fait with the key differences, but a conversation on line with an artist has brought the idea to the fore (for me). This artist was pleading for council support during the COVID-19 lock down, when most premises were told to close down. Her argument was that art is beneficial to society/culture and the economy, but what's hidden beneath this argument is that of course she needs money, money typically comes in exchange for work and her work is art. I am not trying to say that art for art's sake is unimportant, but with many competing claims on money, it is quite a difficult argument to sustain, whereas the argument that everyone should be given the means to subsist as a birth right (or citizenship right) can be made on behalf of everyone, and isn't, and doesn't sound like special pleading. Once someone is secure in knowing that they will be adequately nourished, clothed an...

It was pointed out to me that the change to BST (that took place on Sunday 29 March) is beneficial to sufferers from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I don't really see why, but my first thought was that if it helps them then it's OK by me. But I have changed my miond. I read the Daylight Saving Time article on Wikipedia and saw the long list of disadvantages of changing the clocks during the year  - but not everywhere and not on the same day, and not necessarily following a rule consistently even within one territory. In the world today there are lots of devices that need to be able to cope with the plethora of rules and mistakes could be costly or even dangerous. Daylight Saving Time is a misnomer - the amount of daylight is of course unaffected by clocks. What proponents say is that it gives more light in the evenings. That rather depends on what you mean by 'evening'. If you mean a nominal 6pm, then why not say 6pm? Evening is rather ambiguous, but the term must origi...