Tweet Crime and the zero tolerance society

by Mark Iddon

On Tuesday last week (27th March) 21 year old Liam Stacey, a student at Swansea University, was jailed for ‘tweeting’ comments that would be considered sick by most people’s standards. Although in very poor taste, and you would hope that most people would either challenge or ignore such comments, he did not actually hurt anyone or cause any damage. He was jailed effectively for a thought crime or as Judge John Charles summed up for causing aggravation.

Although the panellists on Question Time this week seemed to be in agreement that the sentence was a bit harsh, there are also many people who think that a custodial sentence was correct in order to send out a message that such racist idiocy is not acceptable and to teach them a lesson. Gary Lineker, the Match of The Day pundit allegedly tweeted a warning to think before you tweet.

Promoting sport and the Olympic legacy

by Emily Pitts

The London Olympics is speeding towards us, with the associated rhetoric about legacy and the transformational impact it is destined to have on every person, young and old, in the UK and beyond.

Cost calculations range from £9bn to £12bn to the taxpayer, with additional revenue from private sources in the form of sponsorship, merchandising, tickets sales, TV rights totalling around £2bn. Venues, regeneration, and infrastructure are funded through the former, with the latter covering the direct costs of mounting the games. Additional concerns voiced through the popular media suggest that these costs fail to take into account the quagmire of additional services and operational costs in London and across the country, leading up to and during the event, therefore failing to reflect the true cost to the taxpayer of hosting the games.

Current affairs discussions every FIRST TUESDAY

The Manchester Salon has been organising challenging public discussions on a wide variety of political, cultural and social topics for the last few years. Topics are usually decided a few months in advance to enable (subject) experts to be invited and booked, allowing regular and occasional attendees to try and interrogate themes in detail,  in context and with some crucial insights.

There has been a desire by a few attendees to supplement discussions on social trends with ones focussed more immediately on recent news and current affairs. For example, a discussion this week could focus on a political scandal, response to ‘extreme’ weather event or an international or diplomatic crisis.

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement:

What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

by Emma Short

In the time of a digital renaissance, wherein dissemination of ideas and sources of learning are widely available to a general populous of global proportions via the internet, the on-going freedom to obtain information in this culture of sharing knowledge is threatened by bills such as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Rights) and ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). Never before has information been so widely available to so many, thus public availability is a good thing no? From a utilitarian stance it would be difficult to argue against, however the greatest good for the greatest many isn't all that's being considered.