Italy

Italy is a strange case. As the BBC reports it has low levels of national debt (though high government debt) and tends to balance its budget sheet before interest payments are taken into account.

These interest payments are the problem. As I have been writing this post the following has happened to yields on Italian 10 year bonds:

9th November 2011, 14:52:36 GMT

9th November 2011, 14:55:42 GMT

9th November 2011, 14:57:32 GMT

9th November 2011, 15:05:52 GMT

7% is considered dangerous.

At least Berlusconi is going, The Economist said he should go as far back as 2001. To be frank his stranglehold over Italy's media and government strikes as rather dictatorial. Silver-linings eh?

ed. Added link to 7% video. 

ed. N.B. The small number below the % change is the important value, however if this keeps getting hiked at 8% day-on-day (or even the 10% it hit at one point) things will worsen very quickly. The value hit a high of 7.48 at around 7:00ET (12:00 GMT) giving an absolute change of 0.69 on the opening price, or ~10.2% increase.

Is this big enough for you?

Is The Economist becoming radicalised? Or was J.F. just stating the obvious yesterday when, wondering why conservative Americans "lament the loss of the America they grew up in," they tagged conservatismǂ and racism as currently inseparable

I tend to agree with the sentiments in the above article. Conservatives can readily be viewed as a group who are "loss[ing] of their own social privilege" and trying to claw it back.

This idea ties in very nicely with a post today, by W.W., and shows just how this idea of social privilege is perpetuating World problems.

In summary W.W. is replying to an an article by the USC's Neal Gabler (seemingly the sociologists' everyman) which claims that: "Big ideas are almost passé."

In a wonderful rebuff W.W. quotes an article by NYU economist Michael Clemens which argues that "barriers to emigration place one of the fattest of all wedges between humankind’s current welfare and its potential welfare."

Dissent over Student Visas

The Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC) have called on the Coalition Government to stop trying to reduce the number of student visas. Their report, published today, criticises many aspects of government proposals. They highlight the planned crackdowns on pre-degree programmes and language requirements which I have highlighted before.

The reports I have personally heard and seen (on the BBC Website, BBC Radio4, and in The Metro) quote Keith Vaz, the Chair of the Committee and a Labour MP. What the reports fail to mention is the membership of this Committee (besides the BBC's use of "cross-party" in their strap-line).

Because I can...

I would just like to quickly proclaim my support for pupils and students in occupation across the country and highlight a couple of groups;

UCL Occupation - who have so far won their legal battle against eviction by university management.

Open Birkbeck - because mature and part time students matter! (and the fee rises are likely to disproportionately affect them)

Raising fees and discouraging students from going to university now could affect individuals and the country for years to come.

"Sir, Yes Sir!" or Old soldiers never die they just get a little teacher-training

So Michael Gove has announced his education reforms, which the BBC are calling "the most radical in a generation". The White Paper called "The Importance of Teaching" sets out a range of reforms some good, some bad, some ugly.

The best idea, in my personal view, is making foreign languages compulsory to 16. Languages are about more than just language, learning them helps students understand other cultures and creates "global citizens".

Among the bad ideas is the proposal to cut the funding for school sports collaborations, which the Grauniad reckons will require a U-turn and lead to much too-ing and fro-ing in Westminster.

And then there is an ugly duckling, nestling in section 2.15, the government will be developing a "Troops to Teachers" programme. This aims to encourage ex-members of the Armed Forces to retrain as teachers by sponsoring their PGCEs.

BANG for your Buck

 Some of my previous articles have argued why the Coalition Government should not cut science funding. Today I'm going to continue this theme, with a focus on value for money.

I am a postgraduate student, funded by a government grant through the EPSRC, and I am among the least expensive government employees in the country. A standard EPSRC stipend provides £13,590 per annum, though EngD students and London weightings can result in the actual amount being more.

£13k is nothing.

Science is Vital

If you are in London this weekend I strongly suggest you attend the Science is Vital Rally. It will be at 2PM outside the Treasury.

If you are wondering why science is so important see the Science is Vital website, Jennifer Rohn at the Guardian and Lily Asquith at the Guardian.

Science saves lives.

Synchotron Research

I was flicking through a copy of Nature this morning and found the published article for the research from the Swiss Light Source which I commented on earlier this month.

The research, by Dierolf et. al. [1], describes a technique in X-ray microscopy which allows structures at the 100nm scale to be visualised (resolution <1mm³). This is pretty impressive and (in the example given) allowed lacunae and canniculae in bone to be resolved clearly. This allows very accurate assessment of osteocyte (bone cell) activity, in particular to study microscale structural changes in osteoporosis.

1 in 3 Quangos to go?

In my first post I commented on the difficulties of cutting Quangos, especially because many of them carry out vital roles. Now it seems that more are set to go.

Both The Telegraph and The BBC were given leaked lists of bodies to be cut or merged. Among others Cycling England, the HPA and the Audit Commission are to go.

Protecting our Vitals

As we know science cuts are imminent, but opposition is mounting.

Science Minister David Willetts has been informed, by the chair of the House of Lords Science and Technology Comittee no less, that cutting science funding will put the UK "at risk".

In an open letter, supported by Vice-Chancellors of six of the UK's leading universities, Lord Krebs cites arguments including loss of staff, reputation and future growth.

This comes at the time when  a synchoton in Switzerland has developed and demonstrated an important nanoscale x-ray technique. In this light does cutting money to the Diamond Light Source make any sense?

If you support continued science funding join Science is Vital. They are also on Facebook and have a demonstration planned in London.

Rage, rage against the Dying of the Light!

South of Oxford, in the Vale of White Horse lies a machine. It's a big machine, housed under 33,000 m² of roofing and with a circumference of 561m the Diamond Light Source is Britain's largest synchotron.

A sextupole magnet at the DLS, ref.

Synchotrons allow the inspection and analysis of chemical mechanisms and material structures (among other uses) with real world results. The DLS has been used for vast numbers of projects including research into cancer, jet engines and Alzheimer's.

Last Quangos in Britain?

The Government recently announced massive cuts in the number of quangos The Independent and the BBC report. Possibly a good thing given that there are a lot of them (almost 1,200 as of mid 2008) and they cost a lot (£64 billion if you trust the Taxpayers Alliance).

I will leave it up to you to decide whether this is going to harm the services these quangos have been providing, the question I find interesting is;

How does this fit into "The Big Society"?