Comments on: It takes megadeath war to make a society more equal?

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:25:24 +0000

Well, do you check every door handle of your car to make sure itâ€™s locked, every single time, or do you take it that youâ€™ve already got enough evidence that the car is locked just by checking one handle?

Yeah, but that’s because I know there’s a system in place that does that, every time, like clockwork unless it’s broken. What the quote seems to be calling for is moving away from the framework that makes it possible. It’d be like the equivalent of going from having a thing on the car saying it locks when you turn the key, to not having such a thing and having faith that the doors will auto-luck when you shut them.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:17:25 +0000

What’s with that bizarre quote? “There’s enough evidence to move away from evidence-based politics”? Would the very act of doing so be evidence-based politics? And if it’s good, why would you want to move away from it?

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:46:01 +0000

Also, referring to the title, perhaps WW2 was the UK’s substitute for a revolution?

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 11:58:16 +0000

What evidence-based policy? If policy (and still more importantly, politics) was based on evidence it might look very different. What we tend to get is policy-based evidence and then policy based on that.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:11:36 +0000

Linton was my MP for a bit, and so far as I could see, really was a proper New Labour apparatchik – except not even a particularly successful one. It’s hard to feel sorry that he’ll lose his seat.

By: Terence Bermingham

Terence Bermingham — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:38:49 +0000

You can read a lot more on this subject at: http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk

By: Charlie

Charlie — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:40:09 +0000

Well, do you check every door handle of your car to make sure it’s locked, every single time, or do you take it that you’ve already got enough evidence that the car is locked just by checking one handle?

The suggestion, I think, is that ‘evidence-based’ policy making might be a kind of political OCD.

By: Blank Xavier

Blank Xavier — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:07:28 +0000

> There is enough evidence here that equality is a good
> thing to be able to take it on faith, and to move away
> from evidence-based politics towards a politics that
> is, for want of a better word, more ideological.

That makes no sense to me.

We have enough *EVIDENCE* to move away from evidence-based politics? eh? if you have EVIDENCE to do so, aren’t you engaging in evidence-based politics?