Topics Richard joined

• • Do Boys and Girls Learn Differently?

  Single sex education is not a major issue in the debate about education in the UK, but it is a major issue in…  more

  Single sex education is not a major issue in the debate about education in the UK, but it is a major issue in the US.

  Single sex education had been a sleeper issue in the US public school system until people like Michael Gurian and Leonard Sax, began writing and lecturing about it. Their work seems to have started a ground swell in both the US public and charter school systems, which I think is interesting and has relevance to the ongoing debate about improving education in the UK.

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• • Carbon footprints and carbon offsets

  I never even think about it , but what I do do is live like an old Calvinist and turn down the heating…  more

  I never even think about it , but what I do do is live like an old Calvinist and turn down the heating (my wife seems to think sub tropical is normal), have quick showers, turn off taps/lights/electrical equipment. Frankly rather than worrying about my or any one else's carbon foot prints what I am vitally interested in in the science that might help us change the problem. Have a look at things like Counter Rotating Ring Receiver Reactor Recuperator which you can read about at http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/futures/32768

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• • Will Video change the way we communicate?

  Possibly, although video conferencing (for many reasons) has always been clunky and not much good for impromptu conversations. Also in most open plan…  more

  Possibly, although video conferencing (for many reasons) has always been clunky and not much good for impromptu conversations. Also in most open plan offices unless you have headphones with a decent microphone, then video calls can be a bit disruptive

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• • Where can you find a decent website for renting villas?

  Agreed Gumtree might be useful but it's not beautiful or much fun to use. When I go away I often book with more

  Agreed Gumtree might be useful but it's not beautiful or much fun to use. When I go away I often book with http://www.statelyholidayhomes.co.uk
  If you want a functional hotel finder for Europe where the service is also excellent then try www.hotelconnect.co.uk

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• • Digital voting: inevitable or not?

  Why is it that we accept online banking and similar serious transactions but not voting? I suspect it is not that people don't…  more

  Why is it that we accept online banking and similar serious transactions but not voting? I suspect it is not that people don't want it, but after the cock up with postal voting the government and electoral authorities are too scared. I think we should have online voting/polls at the same time as traditional ballot box/postal polls to see if the resuts are the same and if we can get more people actually voting.

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• • How to create a topic on yabb that lots of people then join?

  Hot topics: Gardening - techies may not be keen gardeners but millions of people are Property - the UK's main financial obsession and…  more

  Hot topics:
  Gardening - techies may not be keen gardeners but millions of people are
  Property - the UK's main financial obsession and the surrogate to having a sensible pension system
  Education - everyone has done it, is doing or or will be (unless they plan to live on benefits)

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• • Can Internet companies successfully license their brands to real world products?

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• • Education - is it moving from the church to the state and to the private sector?

  In the UK the debate about private versus government education is the most obvious, and arguably the last vestige of the class struggle.…  more

  In the UK the debate about private versus government education is the most obvious, and arguably the last vestige of the class struggle. Why is debate about this topic so rooted in political ideology rather than sensible debate? Did you know that the fastest growing private education market in the world is in Africa or that a philanthropist has set up a US$100m fund to invest in this area (the fund is led by a UK academic).

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• • Technology or books - either or to improve education?

  The UK govt. has invested billions in IT for schools (oddly called ICT). With recent studies showing that the UK is slipping in…  more

  The UK govt. has invested billions in IT for schools (oddly called ICT). With recent studies showing that the UK is slipping in terms of educational performance, have we got the balance wrong? There are several studies that show £100 spent on books increases standards by twice as much as £100 spent on IT. Secondary schools used to spend on average £30 per student on books, they now spend £6.

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• • Results from th PISA tests show the is falling behind other countries. True or false?

  Is education UK failing? The results of the recent PISA tests seem to indicate that the UK is doing far less well that…  more

  Is education UK failing? The results of the recent PISA tests seem to indicate that the UK is doing far less well that our politicians would have us believe. Should we worry that Poland is on track to overtake the UK or are these international assessments irrelevant to the UK?

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• • What will Yabb users be called - Yabsters or Yabbies?

  Having an unusual name seems to be essential for most web trends. So what should we call Yabb users? Yabb could be seen…  more

  Having an unusual name seems to be essential for most web trends. So what should we call Yabb users? Yabb could be seen a contraction of Yabber (Fred Flinstone yelling, 'yabber dabber do') or of Yabby - the colloquial name for Cheerax Destructor, a small freshwater crayfish in Australia. The option seem to be Yabbers, Yabbies or even Yabbists.

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• • Optical illusions and moral illusions - how our evolutionary heritage tricks us

  An optical illusion is normally explained by looking at how the brain processes images and compensates for a lack of, or contradictory information,…  more

  An optical illusion is normally explained by looking at how the brain processes images and compensates for a lack of, or contradictory information, QED an optical illusion. Morality being relative intellectual viewpoint seems quite different (at least mechanically) unless you are alluding to how a moral issue can be positioned using 'faulty' logic.

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• • The Obesity Epedemic

  I have an interesting case study about tackling this in schools

  I have an interesting case study about tackling this in schools

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• • Christmas or 'the holiday tree'?

  One of my UK born, but US based friends visited London recently. When he saw some Christmas cards he commented that he couldn't…  more

  One of my UK born, but US based friends visited London recently. When he saw some Christmas cards he commented that he couldn't send out any that had a Christian theme (in the US) as the recipients would assume he was a 'right-wing Bush supporter'. He also commented that as an expat, he was saddened that there seemed to be little support in the UK for traditional Christian Christmas activities, for fear of offending other religions. Trevor Phillips has also commented on this issue, but is it something you recognize in and is it really a problem?

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• • user-generated content

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• • books

  Non fiction: The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple The Great war - Les Carlyon Fiction: Greenmantle - John Buchan Mr American - George…  more

  Non fiction:
  The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple
  The Great war - Les Carlyon

  Fiction:
  Greenmantle - John Buchan
  Mr American - George McDonald Fraser

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• • Are we headed for a crash?

  Will having an extra £50bn pumped into the financial system by a small number of central banks, help stave off a financial crisis…  more

  Will having an extra £50bn pumped into the financial system by a small number of central banks, help stave off a financial crisis or might it make things worse? The morning after shares in London dropped by 50 points within a few hours and investors are thought to be nervous that this initiative is too little, too late to avoid a world economic recession.

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• • id cards. which side of the fence are you on?

  While people worry about issues like ID cards, they can't legally prevent their children being fingerprinted or to have their wrist veins scanned…  more

  While people worry about issues like ID cards, they can't legally prevent their children being fingerprinted or to have their wrist veins scanned while attending schools (these are used for library and school meal administration systems). What I worry about more is retail surveillance technology like Smartlane, BehaviorIQ/Brickstream), PRISM, VideoMining and Recordant. These variously monitor you in store by recording your speech, heat signature, footfall, facial expressions, etc. This information is not just used by the retailer, but can and is sold to other organisations, along with your shopping preferences and methods of payment.

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• • Obituary inflation

  Linguistically English is not a tightly proscribed language (like French) and similarly the way we use it to articulate our thoughts changes swiftly.…  more

  Linguistically English is not a tightly proscribed language (like French) and similarly the way we use it to articulate our thoughts changes swiftly. I think what you you are trying to unpick is the growth of tautology (saying the same thing twice). Linguistic exaggeration now seem to be the norm, and I suspect in the media, it's partially related to cost cutting and lowering of editorial standards - while the paucity of teaching of basic grammar in schools is another part of the issue. What I particularly dislike is when a sports story describe a team or an individual as a 'heroe'.

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• • Web 2.0 - what can/should it give us?

  I see 2.0 as an evolution of media options for consumers. People who write about Web 2.0 often seem to assume that technological…  more

  I see 2.0 as an evolution of media options for consumers. People who write about Web 2.0 often seem to assume that technological change will have a fundamental and homogeneous impact on consumers - it doesn't. This misconception seems to be result of the cargo cult mentality, that assumes technological advances will necessarily change our habits and therefore supplant existing media formats.

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• • The Tories under Cameron

  Originally he and his team looked like Labour lite, but the seemingly never ending series of slips has pushed Cameron up, even if…  more

  Originally he and his team looked like Labour lite, but the seemingly never ending series of slips has pushed Cameron up, even if it is simply because team Gordon has slipped so dramatically. Interesting to compare what happens when a Conservative administration loses an election - in Australia the Liberal party has imploded. I wonder if this may happen here but to Labour?

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• • Dogs or cats?

  dogs of course

  dogs of course

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• • Most environmentalists are evil

  The superficial level of debate about green issues seems to have allowed idealogues like Al Gore to preach one thing and do another.…  more

  The superficial level of debate about green issues seems to have allowed idealogues like Al Gore to preach one thing and do another. While hypocrisy is hardly new, so many of the schemes like the EU's mandate for bio fuels are almost impossible to deliver and ignore issues like food security and the imbalance between the major trading blocks in world trade - particularly agriculture.

  I used to make my money telling school kids why chopping down trees was good for the environment, why nuclear was good etc. Oddly enough rather than feeling like a corporate monster (the bad guys do pay better) I actually thought what we sued to do posited real questions that kids needed to consider rather than being forced to watch and videos like 'An Inconvenient Truth' which has been sent to all schools in the UK

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• • house price crash

  It does look out of kilter but not just in the UK. My friends in Australia now seem more worried about housing being…  more

  It does look out of kilter but not just in the UK. My friends in Australia now seem more worried about housing being unaffordable for young people than in the UK!

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• • does climate change scare mongering help or hinder people to change their behaviour?

  It certainly seems to facilitate the dismissal of the voices and opinions of people who don't agree that climate change is the biggest…  more

  It certainly seems to facilitate the dismissal of the voices and opinions of people who don't agree that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity. I was recently called a 'flat earther' about this issue by someone who runs one of the largest aluminum companies. I don't think he could see that earning millions from an energy intensive extractive industry, put him in an untennable position when it came to environmental prosletysing.

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• • networking in london

  Yes, they are to business what speed dating is to monogamy.

  Yes, they are to business what speed dating is to monogamy.

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• • flash cars......necessary to get through life or a penis extension?

  Both could be fun, but painful

  Both could be fun, but painful

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• • The McCanns: Guilty as sin?

  "A dingo's got my baby" - oops that was Lindy Chamberlain, another supposedly murderous mum (jailed and then freed on appeal) whose biggest…  more

  "A dingo's got my baby" - oops that was Lindy Chamberlain, another supposedly murderous mum (jailed and then freed on appeal) whose biggest crimes were, a) her lack of motherly remorse in front of the media and b) membership of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. It's a mathematical proof:
  a + b = guilty
  Q.E.D .

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• • Why is Cameron better for the UK than Gordon Brown

  Who knows what David Cameron and his Labour lite policies would be like? I doubt they would be very radical in terms of…  more

  Who knows what David Cameron and his Labour lite policies would be like? I doubt they would be very radical in terms of education, supporting innovation, entrepreneurs and SMEs (the engines of the economy). After reading the whole article that led to Patrick Mercer's sacking as the Shadow Minister for Homeland Defense, I must say I have my doubts as this made him look (to me at least) as someone who only seems concerned with negative media coverage rather than the substance of issues, which in this case was Mercer's supposed racism.

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• • Foot and mouth - what's wrong with injections?

  How do you propose to vaccinate wild deer and other cloven hoofed animals who can also spread this disease?

  How do you propose to vaccinate wild deer and other cloven hoofed animals who can also spread this disease?

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• • When should we bomb Iran?

  I agree and yet we aren't proposing to bomb Israel which it could be argued is a theocratic state, one which has never…  more

  I agree and yet we aren't proposing to bomb Israel which it could be argued is a theocratic state, one which has never signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. What about Pakistan and India, their lack of a sophisticated command and control system for their weapons has almost seen two accidental nuclear conflicts? It would be interesting to know whether Israel's recent bombing raid in Syria (possibly against a nuclear development facility) has any links to Iran's nuclear programme and the role of Russia who is facilitating Iran's development of light-water reactors.

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• • Islamism in Britain

  When I used to work in the Australian outback I used to see practical reminders of the failure of judicial systems that allow…  more

  When I used to work in the Australian outback I used to see practical reminders of the failure of judicial systems that allow 'one system with two paths' (Australian civil and Aboriginal tribal law). Since then I have met many people who claim this 'successi is a case study that shows the wider benefits of formally allowing the sue of Sharia law in the UK (which already exists in many communities). However I remain unconvinced that right now a deeper embedding of Islam, whether it is Sharia law or more poorly run faith schools is a sensible step in the UK right now.

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• • Jews & Muslims

  It's an interesting postulation and I doubt the current beta Yabbers are experts on nuances of either religion or comparative religions as a…  more

  It's an interesting postulation and I doubt the current beta Yabbers are experts on nuances of either religion or comparative religions as a subject in general (I may be wrong). It is interesting reading William Dalrymple's 'The Last Mughal', and hearing him speak about several of Shah Zafar II's predecessors who were very tolerant of other religions including Christianity. Perhaps it is our egregious knowledge of this sort of history that allows the current polarisation we see between Muslims and Jews? If we look back there have been time when both of these religions were life-focussed, just as there seem to have been periods when they were both death-focused.

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• • Boris or Ken?

  Never met either, like most London voters. Like John I think Ken has had a fair innings and I would be interested to…  more

  Never met either, like most London voters. Like John I think Ken has had a fair innings and I would be interested to see if a Conservative (any) could do better, although like most Londoners I don't really care which flavour of rat we have, just so long as they work hard and deliver some substantive, positive change for London.

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• • Why children's education fails to deliver to kids the skills employer's want

  The education system is largely (at a government level) supply not demand driven. Politicians say that they want to give parents choice but…  more

  The education system is largely (at a government level) supply not demand driven. Politicians say that they want to give parents choice but the reality is that the choice is between McDonalds and KFC (and often not even that).

  The ideas that all schools should be good and all kids should have equal access to a great school are nice goals but impossible to deliver, so instread we provide kids and parents with a system that is more child minding that educational. If you look at what a teacher and a child minder earns, the difference is about the minimum wage which simply underlines this point.

  Without being too rude what the hell does the idea of 'to lead out -take places', have to do in terms of education when the reality of existence is a key aspect of education is preparing young people to enter into the world of paid employment. If they do not have the basic hard and soft skills to work in small groups (as most employers are already SME's of less that 50 staff) in an internationally competitive economy then they and their countries will go backwards and or have significant social disruption.

  This nivarna type of educational ideology has direct parallels to the choices faced by post colonial countries like Singapore and Ghana faced who gained their independence from the UK in 1965 and 1957. Each country faced two fundamental political choices, the promotion of democratic freedom or economic development. Singapore chose economic development and Ghana political freedom. Today Singapore which has no natural resources but which focsed heavily on education has is the 17th wealthiest country (in terms of GDP), has sovereign invesrment fund worth £100m+ and outperforms the UK in the OECD PISA education tests (by a large margin). It has moved from being a dictatorship to being a reasonably toterant 'democracy' (at least by South East Asian standards). Ghana by comparision which is rich in natural resources and has had more opportunity for democratic freedom but is still a 3rd world country with substence agriculture accounting for 50% of GDP (even after the discovery of huge oil fields) and yet it invests heavily in educationwith this sector accounting for 28-40% of of the annual budget.
  
  If we want to build our countryeducation system around nice sounding ideas like to lead out, the UK within a generation will probably be a failed state (economically). A good example of this philosophy formed part of a recent story in a major national newspaper where a childs grandparents wrote to Chros Woodhead askin what they could do for their 10 year old grandson who after attending a Steinder school based on these principles cound neither read, write or do even basic maths.

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• • how do we get more kids to like maths?

  In every survey that I have read in the last 15 years maths rates as the subject that kids hate more than any…  more

  In every survey that I have read in the last 15 years maths rates as the subject that kids hate more than any other. It's not just kids, most parents I meet are prepared to help their kids with most of their homework but shy away when it comes to maths.

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• • A nice place to go on holidays with kids

  I am waiting for a really brave airline to have child free flights. While I don't want travel apartheid, I think airlines should…  more

  I am waiting for a really brave airline to have child free flights. While I don't want travel apartheid, I think airlines should have special family friendly flights in a similar way that cinemas have mother and baby only screenings. Getting stuck next to a crying child is a nightmare for the child, parents and other passengers, but if the plane is all families then this would be far less of an issue. About the only solution I have found is to risk DVT and to combine a strong sleeping tablet with ear plugs.

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• • new features for Yabb..

  Spell check for poor spellers like me The inital design is pretty small for the available space on most laptops and like many…  more

  Spell check for poor spellers like me
  The inital design is pretty small for the available space on most laptops and like many sites I had to make it larger to be a comfortable read. Why are so many sites designed for people who think 4pt (or less) in a san serif font is legible. The reason all major newspapers use seriffed fonts (normally in a minimum of 10pt) is that they increase comprehension and readability (they have been measuring this for over 50 years).

  If I were using Explorer I could force a larger font but what it makes me reflect on is that most web designers seem to forget any of the 'lessons' of traditional print design but particularly seem to ignore the needs of anyone over 40 (the wealthiest and fastest growing web users in most 1st world countries).

  Finally how about a Help section? For example what is Add Tag under the YOUR TAGS section on the right? I have no idea and yes I am over 40.

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• • My password hell

  One option is to have a secure USB stick with all your passwords on it with your keys. Have a look at some…  more

  One option is to have a secure USB stick with all your passwords on it with your keys. Have a look at some of the stuff they sell on Hushmail. You can always let your OS 'remember' but I always worry that if someone stole my laptop and got past the first level of security that I'd be completely compromised. One final way is to try and do your really secure stuff on sites (like HSBC corporate banking) that use an RSA fob. Oddly HSBC provide these free for business banking but not for normal accounts (when I asked they said it was 'new' technology).

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• • are countries like the UK addicted to the income of foreign students?

  UK universities and the Treasury seem to have forgotten that when they take the cap off fees (in 2009) students facing £5-9k for…  more

  UK universities and the Treasury seem to have forgotten that when they take the cap off fees (in 2009) students facing £5-9k for a third rate UK university will look to study at emerging English language campuses in China, India and Latin America.

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• • why javascript is the most underrated language of all time

  Java Virtual machine was too slow to start and pages loaded too slowly. I was involved in a company whose whole site was…  more

  Java Virtual machine was too slow to start and pages loaded too slowly. I was involved in a company whose whole site was based on Java and while it made money it was in reality a bit of a nightmare to manage

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• • When will I be able to buy a decent burrito in Soho?

  Never because most of the "Mexican' food people love is Americanised Mexican, like English Indian cuisine

  Never because most of the "Mexican' food people love is Americanised Mexican, like English Indian cuisine

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