Politics

One might expect the quote to be taken out of context and used as a political weapon by opponents of the Conservative party. But it is surprising that it has been mischaracterised by our Prime Minister, who would be well versed on the statement in full. “There is no such thing as society,” Mrs Thatcher said. “There is [a] living tapestry of men and women and  people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.”  … [Read more...] about The PM’s mischaracterisation of Thatcher bodes ill for British politics

Industry sources say that some testing kits only work with particular kinds of machines, so the government is frantically trying to look for more generic equipment that could be used in different situations. And there's a call this morning for the NHS to make its lab space available to ease the pressure which might help. … [Read more...] about Coronavirus: Lack of testing becomes political problem

Indeed, in the past decade, street protests have ousted a series of entrenched African dictators, first in Tunisia and Egypt, then in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Algeria, and Sudan. This is essentially what Wine’s campaign is about: creating momentum and setting the conditions to spark a revolution. But it’s a serious gamble. “We’re in the middle of a fight,” Wine says. “Museveni believes in violent fight. We believe in logic, and psychological and democratic fight. We know he won’t go without a fight. But we’re over 40 million people. We know Gaddafi, Bouteflika, and Omar al-Bashir wouldn’t go without a fight. But they went.” … [Read more...] about Uganda’s ‘Ghetto President’: How Bobi Wine Went from Dancehall Grooves to Revolutionary Politics

Sunstein has been friends with Obama since the 1990s, when both were law professors at the University of Chicago, while Thaler met the presidential hopeful when he was in the Illinois race for the senate in 2004. "Back then, Obama was, as he said, 'the skinny guy with the funny name' and nobody - including me - had heard of him. But I was just blown away and for the first time in my life wrote a cheque to a politician," says Thaler. … [Read more...] about From Obama to Cameron, why do so many politicians want a piece of Richard Thaler?

So, less "Big Brother is watching you" than "Big Brother is stealthily corralling you"? That's one way of looking at it. But the unit would argue that the society whose members are encouraged towards the right decisions by market incentives rather than regulation is the society that stays together. And gets less wee on its shoes. Health secretary Andrew Lansley was promoting "the theory" yesterday. Thaler calls it "libertarian paternalism". … [Read more...] about Pass notes No 2,890: The Nudge Unit