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Category Archives: Education

Science, religion and how things came to be

February 27, 2010 – 2:37 pm

I think I’ve said before that I was raised by scientists. When possible, I try to explain things scientifically to my children. Obviously there’s a limit to their understanding at this point, but when they were scared of thunder and lightning recently, I told my daughter it wasn’t monsters (as she feared) but electricity in [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Religion, Science, Skeptics, Society | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (72)

Political correctness on campus

January 21, 2010 – 8:36 pm

Via a friend, I came across this interesting piece on political correctness on US university campuses. The author starts out with a salutary tale:
In 2007 a student working his way through college was found guilty of racial harassment for reading a book in public. Some of his co-workers had been offended by the book’s cover, [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Academia, Australian internet filter, Free Speech, Human/Civil rights, Literature, Personal liberty, Politics, Society | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (43)

Pin Striped Prison

December 21, 2009 – 6:11 am

I’ve just read The Pin Striped Prison by Lisa Pryor (2008, Picador, Pan Macmillan Australia, Sydney). Pryor was a law student who now works as a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Pryor is exploring a number of questions: what drives young people to want to become lawyers? Why do many lawyers decide it is not [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Academia, Books, Law | Tagged , , , | Comments (23)

RDM: Iron Rations

August 15, 2009 – 2:53 am

Shadow Commons leader Alan Duncan has apologised “unreservedly” after he was secretly filmed complaining about MPs’ pay and expenses.
The Tory MP was heard to say MPs were being treated badly after the expenses scandal and “have to live on rations”.
Mr Duncan said the remarks, made to film maker Heydon Prowse of Don’t Panic magazine, were [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Funnies, Politics | Tagged , , , | Comments (5)

Monday Funnies: The Right Dishonourable Members

May 18, 2009 – 9:56 pm

David Cameron has called for a wider crackdown on MP’s allowances as he and Gordon Brown clashed on the issue at prime minister’s questions…
The exchanges came after days of damaging allegations over MPs expenses.
A growing number of MPs from all parties have agreed to pay back thousands of pounds claimed in expenses after reports based [...]

By DeusExMacintosh | Also posted in Funnies, Law, Politics, Society | Tagged , , | Comments (18)

WTF – career counselling for toddlers?

April 8, 2009 – 12:30 pm

The other day, I was talking with a kinder Dad who is a fellow lawyer. My daughter piped up, “Mummy is a Big Lawyer and I will be a Little Lawyer when I grow up.” The Dad and I exchanged looks, as I ruefully grimaced. “I’d really rather she didn’t become a lawyer,” I confessed. [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Motherhood, Personal | Tagged , , | Comments (30)

Disappointing Dora

March 16, 2009 – 9:44 pm

Before you have kids, if you are anything like me, you have this idea that you won’t let them get sucked into consuming various television shows, junk food, brand names and etc. Then reality hits as your 2 year old points at an ad in the supermarket carpark and says, “Dere’s Wiggles, Mummy!” Children are [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Children, Feminism, Media, Motherhood, Popular culture | Tagged , , | Comments (44)

Theodore Dalrymple stirs the pot

February 26, 2009 – 9:09 am

British psychiatrist Theordore Dalrymple (aka Anthony Daniels) both annoys and interests me in equal measure. On the one hand, he’s a resolute defender of personal betterment: as documented in Life at the Bottom, he was willing to put his career on the line so that welfare recipients could gain an education — up to and [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Drugs, Economics, England | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (17)

Your starter for 10

February 25, 2009 – 9:08 am

University Challenge, it’s fair to say, is knitted into British culture in all sorts of odd and interesting ways. The only other parallels I can think of for cultural influence and longevity are shows like Blue Peter and Dr Who. The headline for this post, for example, is instantly recognizable to pretty much anyone over here. [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in England, Feminism, Popular culture | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (89)

On being deserted by the Explanation Fairy ™

February 14, 2009 – 12:32 am

One of the things I’ve always strived for when I write is clarity.  Most of the time in my writing career, I’ve been successful in achieving this clarity, and people haven’t had to come back to me with queries like ‘what does this mean?’ and ‘please explain’. Other faults – my disagreeable politics, my abysmal taste, [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Academia, Fark! | Tagged , , | Comments (26)