Author Archives: paulbernal64

Terrorism and knee-jerk legislation…

The hideous events in Woolwich are already provoking a huge amount of reaction – strong, intense, often very passionate reaction. Understandably so. I don’t want to go into that, for a whole lot of reasons. One reaction, however, I think … Continue reading

Posted in Privacy, Snoopers charter, surveillance | 3 Comments

That’s what makes you bigoted…

…with apologies to One Direction, and anyone with any taste in music…. ———————————————– You’re insecure I know what for You turn your head as you walk through the do-o-or Don’t need to stop You know what’s what Being the way … Continue reading

Posted in Human Rights, Politics | 2 Comments

A few words on equality…

Back in the 80s, I was a young accountant working in the City, for what was then one of the very biggest firms of accountants in the UK. This was the height of Thatcherism, where greed and selfishness were pretty … Continue reading

Posted in Human Rights, Politics | 5 Comments

One Nation: Unanswered questions…

I’ve just come out of the inaugural event of the LSE’s new Institute of Public Affairs – ‘who owns the ‘One Nation’ and what does it stand for?’ It was a debate of sorts – between Michael Gove and Lord … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | Tagged | 10 Comments

What do students want? The dangers of oversimplification…

There’s a story doing the rounds this morning about student-staff contact hours at universities. “Survey shows university teaching hours have barely increased as fees rise by £8,000″… says the Guardian. I can see this has already produced a few reactions … Continue reading

Posted in Education | 19 Comments

Mr Gove

Mr Gove was extraordinarily arrogant. Painfully arrogant. He believed that he knew how everything should be done. He believed that everyone else in the world was stupid and ignorant. The problem was, Mr Gove himself was the one who was … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized | 289 Comments

Will the Snooper’s Charter be back?

I’ve just been checking what’s in the Queen’s Speech about the Snoopers’ Charter. The details of the speech can be found here. This is the relevant section: —————————————————————– Proposals on the investigation of crime in cyberspace “In relation to the … Continue reading

Posted in Privacy, Snoopers charter | 2 Comments

Google Glass: just because you can…

As a bit of a geek, and a some-time game player, it’s hard not to like the look of Google Glass. Sure, it makes you look a little dorky in its current incarnation (even if you’re Sergey Brin, as in … Continue reading

Posted in google, Privacy | 12 Comments

How should Labour react to UKIP? A few thoughts…

UKIP’s showing in the local elections needs to be taken seriously – and by all political parties. The biggest danger for Labour, it seems to me, is that they will notice (correctly, I suspect) that the main ‘losers’ through the … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 6 Comments

How to make Labour a progressive party…

There’s an election tomorrow – only a local election, but still a big enough election to make me think very carefully about how to vote. For me, it’s difficult – as I’ve blogged about before. I’ve been a Labour supporter … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | 6 Comments