Category Archives: Culture

US Loses Triple AAA Credit Rating

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One of the world’s three leading credit agencies has downgraded US debt. Standard and Poors cut the US credit rating one notch to AA+ with a negative outlook.

The agency argues that the deficit reduction plan passed by congress didn’t go far enough in addressing the US deficit. Whilst the US debt to GDP ratio is already high at 65.2% of GDP, total government liability is actually far greater when including government agencies such as Medicare and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The two main other credit agencies said last night that they had no plans to downgrade US debt in the near future.
Officials in Washington were furious with the decision and claimed to have uncovered a two trillion dollar error in the agencies analysis. The impact on the markets remains to be seen. Given the panic of the last week investors have been piling into US government bonds pushing yields to record lows despite the US government debt problems. This latest downgrade couldn’t have come at a worse time but we will have to wait until Monday to see the impact it has on the markets.

Investors will be worried that the downgrade may impact the wider economy, president Obama has already warned of the impact a downgrade would have. The downgrade threatens the dollars status as the world’s reserve currency. The instability could have severe consequences for the world as a whole.

Tony Blair On The Rack Over Iraq

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Tony Blair is to be heavily criticised for his role in leading the UK to war in Iraq, according to the Mail on Sunday.

The paper points to a number of damning points, saying:

    • The Chilcot inquiry will criticise Mr Blair for failing to admit a secret pact he made with former president George Bush in 2002.
    • Mr Blair apparently withheld vital information from cabinet colleagues, preferring instead, a ‘sofa style government’ with a close knit group of allies.
    • He was also be heavily criticised for failing to come up with a post war plan for Iraq.
    •  The inquiry is thought to be most damning regarding Mr Blair’s claim to parliament that Saddam Hussein’s possession of WMD was ‘beyond doubt’. Blair claims to have misunderstood the infamous 45 minute claim dossier, in which it was argued that Saddam Hussein could launch WMD in 45 minutes. This claim was later found to be nonsense.

A spokesman for Tony Blair said: “This is a deliberate attempt to pre-judge a report that hasn’t even been written yet. We’re not going comment until it has been published.”

Spin doctor Alistair Campbell and former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw are also thought to come in for heavy criticism.

If the allegations prove to be true, what justice will the British public now demand? Some of the criticisms are the result of incompetence or lack of foresight. However, others, such as failing to disclose the secret war pact and the WMD claim, raise a vitally important question. Was there a deliberate attempt to mislead the British public?

We will have to wait until Autumn for the full Chilcot inquiry to be published.

Republicans Close In On Obama

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By this time next summer, the Republican candidate to challenge President Obama will be known, but at this point the list of candidates and potential candidates for the nomination is still far from finalised. With the “will-he-or-she-run-questions” still being asked and answered, some of the names with the highest familiarity among the general public are still not even declared candidates.

Obviously, because of her run for Vice President with John McCain, almost nine in ten Americans (86%) are familiar with Sarah Palin and 75% of U.S. adults are familiar with Rudy Giuliani – both of whom are still undeclared, but possible candidates for the nomination. Majorities of Americans are familiar with declared candidates Newt Gingrich (72%), Mitt Romney (67%), and Ron Paul (52%) while half are familiar with Michele Bachmann (50%). All other potential candidates are at 30% or under in terms of familiarity.

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,183 adults surveyed online between July 11 and 18.

Even among Republicans, many declared candidates do not have majorities familiar with them. Tim Pawlenty (33%), Rick Santorum (31%), Herman Cain (29%), and Jon Huntsman (15%) all have one-third of Republicans or less familiar with them.

With this in mind, it’s not surprising that among Republicans, over one-quarter (28%) say they are not at all sure who they would vote for if they were voting in the Republican primary. Rudy Giuliani (14%) and Mitt Romney (14%) rise to the top among Republicans followed by Sarah Palin (12%). All the other candidates presented are under 10% including Rick Perry (8%), Michele Bachmann (6%), and Ron Paul (5%). Among Independents, there is a three-way tie for first place between Rudy Giuliani (10%), Mitt Romney (10%) and Ron Paul (10%). But over two in five Independents (42%) say they are not at all sure who they would vote for in the Republican primary election.

Looking ahead to November, it seems there are three possible candidates who could give President Obama a difficult time. President Obama would lose his re-election if Rudy Giuliani (53% to 47%) or Mitt Romney (51% to 49%) was the Republican nominee. Each candidate would receive 50% of the vote if the President was running against Ron Paul. Right now, President Obama would win re-election against the 10 other candidates presented.

The Republican are yet to figure out who they are and begin the process of coalescing around one candidate. In the study of politics, there is always a debate regarding electability and this election may show that clearly. Should Republicans nominate a candidate who stands for certain values or policies important to a sub-section of the party, even though that candidate may not be electable in the general election? This is a question the Republican party needs to answer if they want to win next November.

NASA's iPad App Beams Science Straight to Users

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Software and media specialists at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., today released a new iPad app — the NASA Visualization Explorer — that allows users to easily interact with extraordinary images, video, and information about NASA’s latest Earth science research.

Cutting-edge visualization has long been a staple of NASA Earth science and in particular the Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) at Goddard Space Flight Center. The iPad presented NASA a new and easily accessible way to put stunning and beautiful Earth science visualizations directly in people’s hands.

The app’s science features will include high-resolution movies and stills and short written stories to put all the pieces in context. Most of the movies are simply real satellite data, visualized. Other features will include interviews with scientists or imagery from supercomputer modeling efforts. The app includes social networking interfaces, including links to Facebook and Twitter, for easy sharing of stories.

The application is free to the public and available from the App Store via iTunes.

The app editorial team plans to develop two new science features per week. After publishing an initial batch of six features with the launch, new features will publish to the app on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the future the app could include occasional stories about the Sun, the other planets in our Solar System, and exotic objects far out in the cosmos.

The Goddard team designed the application essentially as a mobile multimedia magazine. “Its one-of-a-kind content is geared to the general public, students, educators — “anyone interested in the natural world,” said Michael Starobin, a senior producer at Goddard Space Flight Center who spearheaded the app’s editorial direction. “The app will explore stories of climate change, Earth’s dynamic systems, plant life on land and in the oceans — all of the small and large stories captured in data by NASA satellites and then visualized.”

“Science should be accessible to everyone, and visualization reveals the meaning and value of the often intangible, but essential, data delivered by NASA’s research efforts,” Starobin said. “Data visualization makes information immediately visual and understandable when it otherwise might go unnoticed, and the app makes it easy to explore in an engaging, easy-to-consume, thoroughly modern style.”

“The NASA visualization app is the latest step in a rich tradition of content production and application development,” added Project Manager Helen-Nicole Kostis. “With its release, I’m inviting everyone on a journey of scientific knowledge and visual wonder.”

Work began on the NASA Visualization Explorer shortly after Apple released its electronic tablet in April 2010. “We just knew immediately that the iPad provided the perfect platform to showcase NASA science,” said Christopher Smith, the principal designer of the application’s user interface.

Administrators of Goddard’s Inclusive Innovation Program agreed. The pilot program, which Goddard management rolled out last year to support ideas that would advance non-science and non-engineering functions and services, awarded seed funding to the team to develop the concept. “Our evaluation process was rigorous,” said Goddard Chief Technologist Peter Hughes, who administered the program for the center. “This proposal stood out for its immediate utility and potential impact.”

With the one-year funding in hand, the three principal creators assembled a multidisciplinary team of experts from the center’s SVS, one of the nation’s premiere data visualization labs, and the center’s Television and Multimedia Department, which has earned a reputation as one of the federal government’s best media-production departments. “Through our team’s unique talents, I believe we’ve created an application that is worthy of the NASA badge,” Starobin said.

“The heart of NASA data visualization beats at SVS,” Kostis added. “This is where science, data, and storytelling come together.”

To download the app, go to:

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/nasaviz/index.html

Is Paloma Faith Lying About Her Age?

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Paloma’s age is clearly stated as 26 in this article from 2007. In 2012, Paloma said in a number of interviews that she was 26….

Frost was flicking through back issues of uber cool poetry magazine, Trespass, recently and came across an article with Paloma Faith just before she became famous. In the interview Paloma put her age as 26, this was in 2007. In 2012, in a recent interview with Paloma, she again put her age as 26. Has she frozen in time or is she aging backwards? Frost would love to know. The article is here and a sceenshot is attached.

Google says Paloma Faith age is 26 years (July 21, 1985), but could google be wrong, and Paloma, erm, mistaken? Shh…

Murdoch Update: News of the World Tapped Sara Payne's Phone.

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Another awful twist to the phone hacking scandal today as Sara Payne found out that her phone had been hacked. The phone that had been hacked was given to her as a gift by Rebekah Brooks so she could stay in touch with her supporters.

The extraordinary access that the Murdoch family had to Cabinet ministers was revealed yesterday, more than two dozen private meetings between the family and senior members of Government were granted in the 15 months since David Cameron entered Downing Street.

Cabinet Ministers had over 60 private meeting with the Murdoch’s and the figure rises to 107 if you include social events. James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks were given confidential defence briefings on Afghanistan and Britain’s strategic defence by Defence Secretary, Liam Fox.

George Osborne had 16 separate meetings since May 2010 with News International editors and executives, he also invited Elisabeth Murdoch to his 40th birthday party last month.
The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, dined with Rupert Murdoch within days of the Government coming to power, the minister to see Rupert Murdoch most frequently is Michael Gove, a former News International employee.

The list was released by government departments yesterday (Wednesday) and highlight the unhealthy relationship between News International and senior members of the Cabinet.

David Cameron said he met News International executives on 26 occasions since entering Downing Street.

To put it in perspective Mr Osborne met with representatives of The Daily Telegraph group on six occasions and The Independent, London Evening Standard twice. Mr Hunt met Telegraph and Independent figures twice each and the BBC 11 times.

Last night a spokesman for Mr Gove insisted that his meetings with the Murdoch’s were of a personal nature. “Michael worked for the BBC and News International and his wife works for News International now,” he said. “He has known Rupert Murdoch for over a decade. He did not discuss the BSkyB deal with the Murdoch’s and isn’t at all embarrassed about his meetings, most of which have been about education, which is his job.”

A spokesman for Mr Fox said that the briefings given to the Murdoch’s were given because of the “interest in defence matters” shown by News International papers.

The Chancellor had said he would be happy to talk about the meetings.

It was revealed today that the phone hacking inquiry might take longer than a year.

James Murdoch received unanimous backing today from the BSkyB board despite pressure to step down.

What’s next?

Endurance Campaign Demonstrates the Cruelty of Human Trafficking

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In Aid of Emma Thompson’s Helen Bamber Foundation

Launching on July 2011 at 5pm, campaigner and musician Phil Knight will undertake one of the most challenging anti-human cruelty campaigns ever carried out. In aid of Emma Thompson’s Helen Bamber Foundation the campaign, known as ‘The Everyday Project’, will aim to firmly expose human trafficking in the UK and see Knight endure two weeks of solitary confinement outside of Euston Station in Euston Square Gardens. Knight’s fundraising single ‘Everyday’ will also be released the same day to coincide with the launch of the campaign.

From 5pm Monday 25th July until 5pm Monday 8th August, The Everyday Project will see the Helen Bamber Foundation’s most prominent ambassador hidden and locked inside a 10’ x 8’ iron clad shipping container, located in Euston Square Gardens. Suffering two weeks of solitary confinement and captured via live video streaming on www.justenoughfortherealworld.com, Knight will face extreme isolation and deprivation, having only a portaloo, journal and a pair of his trusty drumsticks for company, with some basic provisions provided for his survival. Illustrating only a small part of what those being trafficked and tortured endure every day, the campaign aims to fully expose this modern-day form of slavery. Already familiar with undertaking extreme challenges in a bid to stop human trafficking, Knight broke a world record in 2009 by drumming for four and a half consecutive days in Leicester Square, raising over £4000 for the Foundation.

Knight’s fundraising single ‘Everyday’ will be simultaneously released on Monday 25th July to mark the launch of The Everyday Project. Written & co-produced also by Knight and sung by one of London’s most talented and rising stars, Chris Kalli, Everyday is an upbeat and lively retro blues track. Taken from the critically acclaimed charity album ‘Just Enough For The Real World’, the track is available through download at www.iTunes.co.uk.

‘This is great music by great writer-performers who were inspired by great suffering. Weirdly, it is full of humour and hope and breathes life into its listeners, not sadness. Joyful and timely, it reminds us what ARTISTS can do when they’re in the right place at the right time.’ Emma Thompson, Chairperson of The Helen Bamber Foundation.

‘My mission in life is to stop human trafficking and I will do whatever it takes to make this happen.’ Campaigner and Music Producer, Phil Knight.

‘Isolation like solitary confinement is a form of torture and Phil is setting himself a serious challenge in solidarity with the victims. Like the shipping container, Phil will be locked in at Euston Station, just as trafficked victims remain hidden often in plain sight of the public.’ Dr Michael Korsinski, Helen Bamber Foundation.

Human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, second only to the illegal arms trade. The Freedom of Information Act revealed that 957 children were trafficked in just eight months in 2008, whilst there has been a 90% increase in the number of victims between 2006 and 2009. The Council of Europe states,

‘People trafficking has reached epidemic proportions over the past decade, with a global annual market of about £27.7 billion.’

Betting on Snake Oil By Matt Harwood

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The sinking of my stomach and the pure shame can be felt just as hard-hitting as it will do the day my grand-children ask the question.

“You mean your generation based a majority of their economy, transport infrastructure, and manufacturing on a natural resource you knew was finite and running out? And you did nothing? Are you insane?”

The idea is insanity. To bet such critical parts of our society as transport and energy on an increasingly scarce resource as oil, goes against every human survival instinct. The financial “free market” has over-ridden sensible action.

Petrol prices are only going to go up, as the slick stuff becomes extinct. Anyone waiting for them to subside is fooling themselves.

The “free market” favours oil because you need to keep buying it, so it makes profits. Very nice profits, at that.

You know what doesn’t make such nice profits? Solar energy. After all, you don’t need to keep paying the piper for sun rays. This is the fundamental reason that I worry our switch to renewable sources of energy will fall too late.

I am personally ashamed of fellow humans that put profit before people. Somewhere along the way, the priorities got mixed about.

Now this isn’t a rant against capitalism, nor a cry for help against climate change. This is a statement of common sense – right now we are betting our future on something we know, for a fact, won’t be around in a few decades.

Would you buy a house in an area you knew is going to be knocked to the ground in 5 years time? Would you sign up for an 18 month phone contract with a company that has announced their shutting up shop in a few weeks?

As the day of oil extinction nears, serious investment and intelligence is needed in to alternative energy and ways to replace plastic. The “free market” stops those seeking profits spending too much time on it, so we need a philanthropic, non-profit market to take the slack.

Oil companies know that one day, they won’t have a business. They know that, eventually, they’ll have no product and the energy market won’t be worth what it is today. But they continue on, with almost the same excuse I have used for smoking – “I’ll stop by the time it does me damage. I can’t imagine that far in the future”. Short-term thinking, when so much is at stake, is a mug’s game.

We need a group of smart people to come together in a real initiative to solve this problem once and for all. Any takers?