Happy Monday

It's that time of the week again. In the beginning I said this would be about public policy and poetry. There's been quite a lot of poetry, but less public policy, mainly because it takes time to sit and think of a considered opinion about news. Anyway, from memory, here are some important things that have happened this summer.

The French government recently closed a large refugee camp at Calais that I didn't even know was there. This was the first time I've been really upset by news for a long time, I don't know why. People against letting the refugees into the UK say that they should claim asylum in the first country which they get to. Some speak English quite fluently though, or have family in this country, so for me it's very understandable that they want to come to England, . Many are from Afghanistan. I hope they know the word "lawyer".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/24/calais-camp-immigration-france
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/25/young-children-calais-refugees

On a happier note, it looks like there might be the beginnings of peace in the Middle East. Of course, this just means that something else starts now, building peace which I can't imagine will be easy after the conflict. It's not even something that I know a lot about, being relatively young and not having a massive appetite for speeches and stuff like that. Well I hope it has a happy ending. Did you know that the city of Jericho is below sea level? I'm probably wrong and there will be another great big intifada after christmas. I hope not. Also the media and the government in Britain at least, seem to really want an end to the war in Afghanistan. Peace o'clock. Is there still a war in Iraq? I should read the paper more.

Labour are flexing their muscles a bit in preparation for an election, which has to take place before 3rd June 2010. I love voting and election campaigns so that's cheered me up a lot. Barack Obama got elected, which is great. I think he's doing a good job and I watched him getting sworn in. I thought it was classy how he got the words wrong and had to be sworn in again. I'm not going to write about the healthcare debate because I can't be bothered and I think it's an economic, utilitarian one. A good book to read is The Undercover Economist by Tim Hartford. There's quite a big chunk in there about different ways of funding healthcare.

Political and public apathy to climate change continues pretty much as it was before, so there's not a lot to write about. I like cold winters personally. There's also a recession on which I suspect is really quite bad, who knows though. There are still jobs being advertised and people are not throwing themselves out of windows on Wall Street, so it doesn't really affect me too much. I think I bore the brunt of it last year when I was working in a pub and leisure spending began to go down.

Also swine flu. Remember to observe good hygiene.

I'm sure I've missed something very important off. Not that anyone is probably reading by now. Six months more or less and I'm still keeping this blog, which I'm quite surprised about. Pleased I'm not sure. 3/5.

Also to reiterate that if you don't like my blog, then don't read it. It's no skin off my nose. If you like it, but think I'm wrong, or going down the wrong track or I've said something incorrect or inappropriate then let me know, I'm happy to hear that.

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