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How bad government can mean a better society

By huge irony, bad government can be good for society.  Which actually means that bad government is good government.  How can that be? The Hungarian government has handled the refugee crisis in a quixotic manner.  This year it has taken … Continue reading

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Refugees and illusions

Some reflections on the refugee crisis.  I will write a few posts on this. Standing in 38 degrees heat at the Deli station in Budapest surrounded by 20 Pakistani migrants can get you thinking about stuff.  You put two and … Continue reading

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The dangers behind averages.

2 degrees has become a familiar figure.  We need to stop the climate getting warmer than an average of 2 degrees to avoid catastrophic climate change.  In fact, as top climate scientist James Hansen says, even 2 degrees is too … Continue reading

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Blatter and the bigger problem

Blatter is not the problem. The different attitudes towards Blatter around the world are telling.  We read that Africa, Asia, South America and Russia all support him.  They have different experience of him than we do.  They have benefitted from … Continue reading

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Litter in Szentendre: personal failure and policy failure

On a walk in Szentendre by the Danube yesterday, the distinction between personal failure and policy failure was clearly visible. This is the failure of individuals to be civilised citizens: And this: In contrast, this is policy failure: The combined … Continue reading

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