David Kingman ponders what kind of “legacy” the people responsible for London’s successful Olympic Games will actually be able to achieve
Quote 24
“As a species, our brains have just not evolved to deal with threats whose effects will be felt in what, for us, counts as the remote future. We respond to them by ignoring them.” Daniel Kahneman, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University, Nobel Laureate in Economics
Student Loan Agreements – what are you getting yourself into?
Billy Harding, a volunteer at IF and second year student at Exeter University, has been digging into the contract which new students will be signing up to for the loans – and doesn’t much like what he sees
“Plan B for Youth”: a real plan for action
Antony Mason sees much to commend in “Plan B for Youth”, launched by the think-tank Compass on 17 July
Quote 23
“A politician thinks about the next elections — the statesman thinks about the next generations.” James Freeman Clarke (1810–88), American theologian and author
Marine Garbage Pollution: an International Problem
Sarah Cruz Lima, of the Institute for Shipping and Trade Law at Swansea University, describes the imperfect efforts to curb dumping at sea, a classic case of short-term expediency with clear long-term – hence intergenerational – implications
US city of Stockton bankrupted by healthcare and pension costs
David Kingman explains how overgenerous pension and healthcare commitments to former state workers have played a major role in pushing Stockton, California, over the precipice of bankruptcy
Good news: jobless total falls
Somewhat against expectations, today’s unemployment figures have moved in the right direction. For all generations? Antony Mason investigates
Loans for Higher Education: the dodgy dossier
Antony Mason argues that, even if they can’t do anything about being stuck with higher debts, university students still have cause for complaint about the terms which they are forced to agree to
Who should pay for old age care? The horns of a dilemma
Antony Mason looks at the intergenerational dilemma posed by the Dilnot Commission, and the new White Paper on social care