Interesting Links for 21-03-2013
Mar. 21st, 2013 11:00 am- Google engineer spills the beans on DRM - It's about controlling hardware companies
- High-carb intake in infancy has lifelong effects
- Bolshoi ballet was 'giant brothel' claims former dancer
- Hyper-Realistic CGI Is Killing Photographers, Thrilling Product Designers
- Diamonds Are Bullshit
- Music sales are not affected by piracy
- Why taxi drivers will ask you which way to go.
- The Guide For Americans Visiting Europe
- Sugar, not fat, exposed as deadly villain in obesity epidemic
- A brief (recent) history of the Lib Dems’ flagship tax-cut for the low-paid
- The women who voted before women had the vote
- Fascinating to see the SDP/Liberal splt in the Lib-Dem responses to the budget.
- Dizzying complexity: what happens when you visit the Google home page.
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Date: 2013-03-21 07:12 pm (UTC)(seriously, that's not really a valid distinction these days, never really was)
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Date: 2013-03-22 10:33 pm (UTC)The idea that "Liberal Party = 'Orange Booker'" and "SDP = 'Social Liberal'" is one that has never matched up to reality. The Liberals were radicals, as you see if you look at any of the old policy papers from the time. The SDP, on the other hand, were fundamentally centrists, who thought "moderation" was valuable in itself. The SDP were far warmer towards Thatcherism than the Liberals were -- Owen was in favour of coalition with the Tories should an opportunity present itself, while Steel leaned towards Labour.
Of course, there were people in both parties who leaned closer to the other one -- especially after the Alliance formed and people started joining whichever local party was stronger.
This piece on Liberator's blog -- http://liberator-magazine.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-rise-and-fall-of-economic-liberalism.html -- while it's definitely biased (Liberator *do not like* the current leadership, and still seem to hold grudges about the existence of the SDP [in fact I suspect some of them think the Radicals started going downhill when they started working with those soggy centrist Peelites and Whigs]), is probably more accurate about the positions of the two pre-merger parties (though not about some other stuff) than most of the "Orange Book Liberals vs Social Democrats" stuff in mainstream political coverage.