I jumped into action too quickly

It seems that Marmite may not actually be banned for sale in Canada and, like a sucker, I've now saddled myself with an unnecessary strategic Marmite reserve.  It's a bummer that Jeannette's not into Marmite because I've got a tonne of it to plough through.

It's a good thing I really like Marmite.

Life in Halifax, Nofuna Scotia

As part of his continued effort to justify the use of the moniker "Nofuna Scotia" the HRM chief of police has recently blamed bars and alcohol for high crime rate in Halifax.

As the Metro story puts it:

HRM drinks too much and Halifax Regional Police Chief Frank Beazley says he has the assault statistics to prove it.

He told the municipality’s police commission on Monday there’s way too much easy access to liquor in this town. Many people sit at home and drink heavily before going out late to the bar and pounding drinks until 3 a.m.

“If I could take the alcohol out of this, I could plummet the number of assaults in HRM,” he said.  

Beazley added that several of the 3,202 assaults last year involved people getting drunk and going home to beat a family member.

The access, hours the bars are open and the density of liquor establishments downtown combine to cause real problems.

“Why do we need that many bars in that one area of the community that require so many resources to police it?”

While I am sure it is the case that some number of Halifax's crimes were committed by people who had recently been drinking in bars, do we know that access to alcohol really lead to all that many crimes - or do criminals just happen to also be drinkers?   Do other communities with bar districts face similar problems?  If not, why not?

And is the chief of police really suggesting that some number of legally operated small businesses be closed or have their capacity to collect revenue severely restricted?  Might there not be other steps that we can take before this one?

And I am curious if the chief's suggestion that if he "could take the alcohol out of this, I could plummet the number of assaults in HRM" is accurate.  An interesting story from the Guardian today seems to suggest that people will go to great lengths to secure intoxicating substances in the face of prohibitions.  At least in the UK an ever-changing array of legal synthetic drugs seem to be popular at the moment.  And of course not much is know about these synthetic drugs and what kind of long-term impact they might have on their imbibers.  And should one not think about the risk of encouraging such a development be worth by changing alcohol rules?


Cameron: 26
Neil: 0

Elective Dictatorship vs. Elected Dictatorship

Recently I have noticed what seems to be a difference of usage in the United Kingdom and Canada. In writings from the UK one frequently finds the term 'elective dictatorship' used while in Canada it seems that the synonym 'elected dictatorship' is preferred.

The other thing that is rather noticeable about the difference is that in the United Kingdom the phrase is associated with a particular individual, Lord Halisham. I feel that this phrase, and the name of the person to whom it is attributed, came up in almost every class I took during my year at Keele. One seemingly couldn't say 'elective dicatorship' without referencing good old Lord Halisham.

In Canada we don't ever refer to the origin of the phrase 'elected dictatorship,' we just use it. Presumably, though I don't have any evidence to support my claim, this phrase is a bastardization of Lord Halisham's original. The crossing of the Atlantic caused it to become corroded and slightly reduced in elegance.

I think that I prefer 'elective dictatorship,' though I don't have a particularly good reason. Maybe it is because 'elective dictatorship' seems to indicated that the process doesn't happen just one time, we continue to use the system. 'Elected dictatorship,' on the other hand, could mean an instance in which a dictator was elected and then remained for as long as they saw fit. There was no assumption that as dictator they would ever face another election.

On a related note, I finally found the source and text of a quote that I read some number of years ago and have been since misquoting.

"I have heard many arguments which influenced my opinion, but never one which influenced my vote." attributed to Sir James Ferguson, 1832-1907. The quote was included as an epigraph in the article Constitutional Reform: A Modest Proposal By Leonard Tivey.