Archive for the ‘Comment on Comment’ Category
Mark Lynas has written a book on climate change, called Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet. I haven’t read it, so I can’t comment on its content (though from the title, I would speculate that Lynas is not a climate change sceptic). He’s also written an article on the Guardian website about writing […]
Filed under: Comment on Comment, Science | 2 Comments
Tags: Climate Change, Comment on Comment, Scepticism, Science, The Guardian
The Economist has another example of a graph that tells the viewer, well, nothing. Last time it was due to comparisons between data sets which weren’t really comparable. This time, it’s an odd choice of data to start with. Apparently, trade diversity is important. My study of economics did not go beyond A-level, but I’m […]
Filed under: Comment on Comment, Mathematics & Statistics | Leave a Comment
Tags: Exports, Graphs, Mathematics & Statistics, Misleading Statistics, The Economist, Trade
In defence of mathematics
Simon Jenkins is arguing on the Guardian website that learning mathematics in school is a waste of time. In exactly those words. He starts off by criticising a recent study (PDF) by Reform. The study is mostly critical of mathematics teaching in the UK, concluding that it compares unfavourably with many other developed and developing […]
Filed under: Comment on Comment, Mathematics & Statistics | 2 Comments
Tags: Curriculums, Euler's Formula, Mandelbrot Set, Mathematics & Statistics, Pythagoras' Theorem, School, Teaching, The Guardian
No-one is “just” a wife
On the Times website this week, Sarah Vine advances the theory that in order to become a successful politician, one needs a wife. Not in so many words, of course. But she might as well. The subheading of her article reads: You can tell a lot about a politician by which of the two types […]
Filed under: Comment on Comment, Politics, Women | 1 Comment
Tags: Carla Bruni, Marriage, Michelle Obama, Politics, The Times, Women
“Oi, love!…”
When I was a teenager, I spent much of my free time rowing. I was part of a squad that trained six days a week, and at weekends and after school during the summer, the training was at a boathouse on the Thames. The boathouse was some distance from the main road, and so several […]
Filed under: Comment on Comment, Women | Leave a Comment
Tags: Anecdotes, Comment Is Free, Sexual Harassment, The Guardian, Women, Women's rights
Statistics are amazing. They can tell you anything. In fact, given a data set, you can find statistics that can conclude absolutely anything you want, regardless of the data itself. And then you can display the results neatly in a graph, in order to convey your point concisely and clearly. Bearing that in mind, today […]
Filed under: Comment on Comment, Mathematics & Statistics | 1 Comment
Tags: Capital Punishment, Death Row, Graphs, Mathematics & Statistics, Misleading Statistics, Statistics, The Economist
Of tuna and toilets
Last week’s Correspondent’s Diary in the Economist came from Tokyo, and explored the wonders of Japanese food. It’s an interesting read for me, as all the locations mentioned are in Tokyo, and thus offer a contrast to the restaurants and cafes in my little corner of Wakayama prefecture. Sushi, of course, is ubiquitous in Japan. […]
Filed under: Comment on Comment, Food, Japan | Leave a Comment
Tags: Food, Japan, Restaurants, Sushi, The Economist, Toilets, Tokyo, Tsukiji
Pregnancies: wanted and unwanted
An article by Laurie Penny over at Liberal Conspiracy considers the recently-passed Human Fertilisation and Embryo Bill. Specifically, the impact that it will have on women’s rights. Two of the key issues in the Bill were proposals to reduce the limit on abortions from 24 weeks, and the proposed removal of the law requiring IVF […]
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Tags: Abortion, Current Affairs, Gay rights, Liberal Conspiracy, UK Politics, Women's rights
Gin&Comment 
Second-hand isn’t necessarily second-rate
When I was a teenager, continously in search of new reading matter, I worked my way through most of Robert Goddard’s books. I liked the plot twists, and the fact that I could read them in a few bus rides. One day, I had read almost the whole way through one of his novels (I […]
Filed under: Books, Comment on Comment | 1 Comment
Tags: Books, Bookshops, Comment on Comment, Second-hand Books, The Guardian