There is no alternative! | Michael Krämer | Life & Physics That is the claim made by the iron ladies to justify their political agendas. Can a scientific theory also be supported by such an argument? Michael Krämer discusses a new philosophical proofThe late Margaret "Tina" Thatcher claimed that "there is no alternative" to economic liberalism, and our own iron Frau Angela Merkel has defended her controversial fiscal policies for Europe with the very same slogan. It is not surprising that politicians use such thought-terminating cliches to push through their agenda, but remarkably the "there is no alternative" argument also plays a vital role in science. For example, it has been argued that string theory must be the way to unify quantum physics and gravity because we have not found any alternative. While this seems to merely reflect our incompetence, scientific philosophers have now proven mathematically that the "no alternative" argument can indeed provide evidence for a scientific hypothesis. So how does such a philosophic proof work, and |
I escaped from the shadow of Ravenscraig, without Thatcher's help | Deborah Orr Damian Barr says Thatcher helped him to aspire, to escape the constraints of his home town. Maybe, but it wasn't her who persuaded me that getting out was for the bestI'd forgotten the phrase "Wit's fur yae disnae go by yae," even though I'd heard it countless times during my childhood. Whenever you expressed a wish for things to be different, some rough-hewn stoic would be on hand to remind you that passive acceptance would banish disappointment or dissatisfaction."Wit's fur yae disnae go by yae." Zen and the art of living in Lanarkshire, in the towns and villages that assembled themselves around the business of the place, coal and steel. It was Granny Mac's favourite expression.Reading Damian Barr's new memoir, Maggie and Me, brought back a lot of memories, and also filled a lot of gaps. Barr grew up a couple of miles away from me, in Newarthill. Granny Mac was his mother's mother, a Catholic. Damian's father's family, the Barrs, were Protestant. The marriage |
Charles Moore winning race of Margaret Thatcher biographers Authorised volume outselling Not for Turning, by Thatcher speechwriter Robin Harris, at a rate of over three to oneMargaret Thatcher's two biographers may both have turned to the same eminently quotable remark from the late prime minister in naming their new books, but sales for Charles Moore's Authorized Biography, Volume One: Not for Turning have eclipsed Robin Harris's Not for Turning, it was revealed today.Official figures from book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan show that first week sales for journalist and official biographer Moore reached 5,325. Harris, Thatcher's speechwriter, reached a total of 1,569 for his own biography. Both books have received largely positive writeups; Harris "is like a long-faithful courtier freed by a monarch's death to speak the truth about them", wrote Andy Beckett in an early Guardian review, while Moore "has exploited [his] unique access with thoroughness and skill", even though "a sense of the British establishment granting favours to one of its ow |
Politics should be guided by principle, not populism | Roy Hattersley Labour ought to resist 'the people', as heard through the Ukip megaphone. Convictions are popular too, as Thatcher showedThe mantra of the moment is "listen to the people" – a call for populist politics dressed up to look like a demand for the genuine democracy which is said to be denied to Britain by an unrepresentative and remote elite. Despite its superficial appeal, government by continuous opinion poll does create one serious dilemma. How are politicians to behave when, having listened, they find themselves in fundamental disagreement with what they have heard? Should I, in 1964, have called for what a clear majority of my constituents, and most of the country, undoubtedly wanted – the repatriation of all Commonwealth immigrants?A couple of months ago, a Tory MP – discussing, on radio, the proposed changes to the planning laws – blandly explained that he had no doubt that they were right and necessary but that he would oppose them because of the strength of opposition in t |