[slackline]

1758

[Sloper]

HE is a classic bubble and will hopefully soon burst so we can go back to the days when an undergraduate degree was worth having.

Which was when?

Probably, for new graduates about 1990

[Sloper]

Its what he would have wanted.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jul/16/karl-marx-das-kapital-sold-for-40000-dollars

[drdeath]

HE is a classic bubble and will hopefully soon burst so we can go back to the days when an undergraduate degree was worth having.

Which was when?

Funnily enough it's usually at the time when the complainer graduated.

Apparently about 1990 in this case.

[Sloper]

The early 1990's was the point at which the number of graduates increased significantly rising from 17% in 1992 to 38% in 2013. 

The scarcity value of a degree has therfore been seriously eroded.

Whether the quality of degrees as a whole has also been diminished (accepting of course that all degrees and all institutions are not equal) is a matter of debate.

That 50% of graduates are employed in jobs which do no require a graduate degree is an indicator that we have a roughly 50% over supply of graduates.

The over supply leads to depressed salaries and retarded career progression (all other things being equal which of course they're not) and this with the increase in the cost of obtaining a degree (again see above, this doesn't apply to all degrees) means that the demand is unlikely to be maintained.

If you graduate from a Russell group university with a 2:1 in law and do well in your professional exame your chance of getting a pupilage is still very poor c.20% (Ru does this sound about right?) albeit somewhat better for a training contract perhaps 35%.

If you get a 2.1 from Salford or similar the chance of actually practising is about 1%.

[Stubbs]

The early 1990's was the point at which the number of graduates increased significantly rising from 17% in 1992 to 38% in 2013. 

The figures you've quoted don't support your supposition at all, why should 20% be some sort of threshold? You could equally say that once graduates went over 5% the value was eroded.

[Sloper]

There was some reasoned proposition than c 13% of jobs required a degree hence with slack about 15-17% of the population getting a degree maintained demand and supply with a fair degree of balance.

25 years ago it would have been bizzare to think that even close to 50% of graduates would be working in shops / bars etc (other than as a holiday job when undertaking further study) but this is now the norm for too many.

The value of a degree was maintained with the great expansion in the 1960s as the demand also increased,in recent years I do not think this can be said.

[slackline]

The right to privacy in the digital age from the United Nations Human Rights Council

[slackline]

Evidence based policy/laws?  Can't see it catching on myself...

Did California’s hand-held cell phone ban reduce accidents? (original article, may be pay-walled, but you can read the abstract).

News write-up


Whether they were correct to make so many adjustments is likely a key factor that influenced the results.

[mrjonathanr]

What if it was the more socially responsible mobile users who reduced  useage when driving and the nutters just carried on texting and crashing as before?

The nature of the penalties is germane, surely?

As is any available data on mobile phone useage at times of crashes.

[slackline]

Available data is the biggest crux I think.

Not sure penalties actively deter that many, those who are responsible likely didn't use them whilst driving anyway so the ban made no difference.  Nutters carry on regardless of law and penalties since they don't give a shit.  A small proportion between the two extremes might have been discouraged though.

[lagerstarfish]

Available data is the biggest crux I think.

does this not aply to everything, ever

[mrjonathanr]

Not if you're in government.

[slackline]

Available data is the biggest crux I think.

does this not aply to everything, ever

Yep, it does, underpins the "Garbage In, Garbage Out" problem and is in part linked to George Box's quote "All models are wrong, but some are useful" (since they'll be less useful if the data is unreliable).

Some things are more reliable than others though.  Expecting people to confess to using a mobile phone during or shortly prior to an accident, particularly after laws have been passed making it illegal to use them, means that you're likely to have under-reporting.

[lagerstarfish]

they should analyse the water in the sewers for a more acurate indication of the scale of ilegal phone use

[slackline]

 

[Sloper]

I must stop talking to Labour SPADS when they've had a few, it seems that they're thinking what we're thinking.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/23/jobcentres-dont-work-employment-letting-young-people-down

[slackline]

Sri Lanka comonwealth cyclists stopped by police whilst out for a training ride on the M74

[Will Hunt]

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jul/29/the-sundevil-satan-boy-outrage-chest


The Sun's front page today has got them into some hot water.

Real devil-may-care journalism.

If you'd like to provide some puns, please try not to make them too loose if, er, you don't mind me saying.

[tomtom]

Gaza. This timelapse shows the extent of some of the damage from the bombing over an hour....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/gaza/10999571/Israel-Gaza-conflict-time-lapse-shows-air-strikes-destroying-entire-neighbourhood-in-an-hour.html

[slackline]

Gaza. This timelapse shows the extent of some of the damage from the bombing over an hour....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/gaza/10999571/Israel-Gaza-conflict-time-lapse-shows-air-strikes-destroying-entire-neighbourhood-in-an-hour.html

Clocked this last night, fucking stupid wars 

[psychomansam]

Fairly standard, but if you ever needed evidence that most of what is called 'news' is now little more than entertainment, fearmongering and bullshit to occupy the proles, see this list of the top ten read news stories on the Daily Mail BBC website.

    1: Star Wars name passport rejected
    2: Bolt Games slur claims 'are rubbish'
    3: Apology over Turtles '9/11 poster'
    4: Ebola virus 'potential threat' to UK
    5: 'Poo pong' from fields grips town
    6: No appeal over Rolf Harris sentence
    7: UK to allow driverless cars on roads
    8: 'Quantum Cheshire Cat' observed
    9: HSBC closes some Muslims' accounts
    10: Gaza refuge suffers deadly shelling

[slackline]

Fairly standard, but if you ever needed evidence that most of what is called 'news' is now little more than entertainment, fearmongering and bullshit to occupy the proles, see this list of the top ten read news stories on the Daily Mail BBC website.

This just shows the preference of the readership, not that the BBCs reportage is focused solely on entertainment, fearmongering and bullshit.  That may well be the case, but what you are quoting doesn't show that.

Why should all news be about war, politics, and 'serious' topics?

Anyway, the ebola virus is a pretty serious problem (hope you don't contract any form of hemorrhagic fever) and I was reassured to hear last night on the radio whilst driving to the crag that there are contingency plans in place should it occur here.

[duncan]

Climbing is good for the cognitive function, Mozart and crosswords not so much.

[slackline]

Now legal to take the piss (and make copies of stuff for private use)