Feeding Crime

Once upon a time, I worked in a wholefood shop. Sadly that business is no longer there. That was in the bad old days when those of us who thought that a good diet was likely on balance to lead to a healthier life were thought to be a bit faddy and off the wall. Now diet is routinely part of preventative medicine and, as George Monbiot shows, the effects of bad diet extend to social health

having a bad diet is now a better predictor of future violence than past violent behaviour. ... Likewise, a diagnosis of psychopathy, generally perceived as being a better predictor than a criminal past, is still miles behind what you can predict just from looking at what a person eats.

but the government needs to get with the programme as it appears that despite this research being done in prisons and showing measurable improvements in convivial behaviours, the Home Office is stalling. As George says:

Tough on crime. To hell with the causes of crime.

It adds to the cumulative case for organic and local food and good education about food as well as proactive policies concerning the way food is consumed as well as produced...
Filed in: diet, behaviour, violenceGeorge Monbiot � Feeding Crime:

More pavement art

The artist in my last post, Beever, collaborates with a guy called Wenner, who has a different style and interests but is also worth looking at. One of the pages on this site has a huge pavement drawing of the last judgement being viewed by the pope. But here's the one I like.

PAINTING PAGE ONE
Filed in: Art, pavement, Wenner

3D Chalk Artist

Traced this after a friend sent a copy of some of the pictures. The artist seems to specialise in witty pavement art which, when viewed from the right angle looks, at least on the photos, very 3D and uses the trompe l'oeil effects well.
Here's an example of one of my favourites from this guy's 'oeuvre'.

John Kenneth Galbraith, a personal tribute

I was sad to hear of Galbraith's death, and surprised to discover how old he was. I read "The Affluent Society" when I was studying economics at A level, not because it was a set text but because it was economics and it looked interesting. It had a profound impact in opening my eyes to the nature of consumer society which has stayed with me since...
"he argued economies were dominated by corporations which decided what to produce and then used advertising to persuade consumers to buy things they did not need rather than build socially useful projects such as schools, roads and hospitals."

We need voices like his, I hope that his death will remind many of what he wrote and bring him many more readers.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Chancellor pays tribute after death of Galbraith, 97:

Cameron and green spin?

This seemed to be symbolic of why I suspect the Tory 'conversion' to eco-friendliness.

David Cameron brushed off criticism today that his image as a bicycling environmentalist was mere "spin" because he still used his official car to ferry around his clothes and paperwork. The Conservative leader said he bicycled to work because he enjoyed it but the amount of paperwork required in his job as leader of the opposition meant he needed his official car to transport it to the House of Commons

The obvious solution is big paniers as John Humphreys is reported as suggesting in the article or one of those bike-trailers. Come on David, you can do better than that: there's absolutely no point cycling for the environment if you have a car to move your papers around. In any case it does, as I suspected, seem that Mr Cameron is running ahead [or should that be cycling] of his party on such things as this article indicates.

David Cameron's emphasis on environmental issues risks eclipsing traditional Conservative messages on crime and discipline, the shadow defence secretary, Dr Liam Fox, said yesterday, warning that the party risked being "tilted too much in one direction".

Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Cameron rejects accusations of green spin:

Domestic Trading Quotas

Colin Challen, MP, has been reported making further arguments in favour of DTQ's:

"the government was unlikely to meet its target of a 60% cut in emissions by 2050, and that DTQs could provide a way towards this as well as being a powerful market driver for new products through increasing consumer awareness. Under the proposed system, everyone would be given a domestic quota of carbon emissions - or entitlements to pollute. These would then be used up during all consumer choices, encouraging individuals to use products with a low environmental impact. For example, those choosing cheap air travel with all of its related unsustainable emissions, would be penalised heavily, as would 4x4 drivers, and lose much of their quota, while cyclists and walkers would be rewarded. Those exceeding their quota would then have to buy further credits from those choosing more sustainable options. The system would not only apply to transport but across all consumer goods, from food to fridges, all of which would have to be labeled with performance criteria. Most of the time, he said, the electorate are simply unaware of their own environmental impact and the fact they could make more sustainable choices."

I wonder if there is a campaign to try to get this into practice? My only worry is that the guy seems to want it to be piggy backed onto ID cards. Apart from the political worries about that, if the IT proves to be a wonky as industry insiders expect, it would sound the death knell for the idea.
edie news centre - Individuals must take responsibility for environment too:

Islam: non reciprocity in conversion reprised

A comment on my posting on the issue led to this site with a ruling on apostasy. The commenter says that this is the classic Islamic position on the matter. It is useful to have something like this. I'm not qualified to comment on whether my correspondant is right in saying this is a classic position from a reputable scholar, I can only assume that it is.

In my reply I wrote the following:
I'm concerned that even with this kind of approach which attempts to be more humane [implicitly recognising that there is a problem in 'common humanity' and 'natural justice' terms], we are left with something that has the effect of legitimising violence or severe treatment against those who become persuaded that Islam is not sufficiently right for them to continue in it.

"[an apostate] in the midst of a close-knit Muslim society is rightly considered an overt threat to that body and the body has a right to defend itself"

There's a host of issues in that, isn't there? Why should an apostate be automatically considered a threat to society? You are, in effect saying, that someone who converts, say, to Christianity is likely to become a violent drunken child-molester with serial killer tendencies? Or that they are likely to go against their faith which encourages them to seek the welfare of the society in which they find themselves? What are you saying, by implication to dhimmis in Muslim societies? No wonder they feel threatened.

In any case the argument relies on the myth of a close knit Muslim society [with its clan feuds, vitriolic disputes between different traditions of Islam etc] for a legitimacy which seems therefore spurious.

'A right to defend itsely' should, surely, be proportionate? I can't see that this is proportionate or just.

I think I should add that it continues, therefore, to seem to me that the fundamental problem is with the traditional hermeneutic and whether fiqh is sufficiently flexible to allow a fairly new approach, since there does not appear to be any way round this in terms of synchronising the 'classic' methodologies with natural justice on this one. I may be wrong; I would be delighted to find evidence show that natural justice and Islamic jurisprudence can meet together and kiss on this issue ...
Various Questions (3) Answered by Shaykh Gibril Haddad
Filed in: Islam, apostasy, fiqh