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November 2008

Standpoint is published monthly by Social Affairs Unit Magazines Limited, a subsidiary of the Social Affairs Unit (Registered Charity No.281530). The views expressed in Standpoint are those of its individual authors, not those of the Social Affairs Unit Magazines Ltd and its Directors or those of the Social Affairs Unit and its Trustees and Director

Counterpoints

Criminal Damage to the Law

JOSHUA ROZENBERG

The acquittal of Greenpeace activists who vandalised a power station reveals a legal loophole vulnerable to political exploitation

Urbanites Take Leap of Faith

CHRISTOPHER EDWARDS

Alternative therapy and made-up pagan rituals find their devotees among supposedly sophisticated city-dwellers

Escalating Etiquette

JONATHAN FOREMAN

Britons' behaviour on the London Underground escalators shows the country has not yet lost all its charm and civility

When Planning Rules Go Batty

JESSICA MANN

The interplay between planning rules and the rights of protected species is the perfect example of legislation having the opposite effect from what was intended

Traditional Gravestones, RIP

ANTHONY DANIELS

In the age of the text-message, British gravestones are becoming less austere

Waltz the Weight Away

MIRIAM GROSS

British politicians anxious to combat juvenile obesity should learn from China, and rediscover an old dance

How Fair is Fairtrade?

MARC SIDWELL

The recession will refocus our financial priorities, and is as good a time as any to reassess the value of Fairtrade products

Going West

JAMES ELLIOT

Cold War geopolitical terminology is obsolete. We need new terms to reflect a changed world