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All contents of this site are ©Copyright 2006- 2011 by Adam C.F. MacDonald. All rights reserved.

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End of public libraries in the UK?

library_uk

I listened to a BBC podcast the other day and I found it depressing: Local public libraries to be run by volunteers. Because of the UK’s financial constraints there’s an austerity budget that’s been introduced. But the tactic of handing over services to volunteer groups is a very worrying model that I can see being taken up elsewhere. It’s worrying because at least in the UK there doesn’t seem to be any commitment to ensure success in the transfer.

The “Financialisation” of History

Wallet

I listened to a recent podcast from the BBC’s Radio 4 Analysis program on the ubiquitous and insidious growth of credit debt in our world: Radical Economics: escaping credit serfdom. Interesting that  debt has become a matter of everydayness when so many of our ancestors worked to free themselves from unhealthy obligation.