Christine Thompson
I was a teacher of Chemistry and Economics and then worked at Christian Aid (an international development agency). My interest in this course is because the oceans are important in the climate emerg
Location UK (England)
Activity
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I live in UK and am retired. It never occured to me to become a lawyer and this course made me realise why. I certainly wouldn't want corrupt lawyers. Or those influenced by powerful forces (although this probably happens more than people are prepared to accept). But I don't find the black and white attitude of the law rather than a more problem solving...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
What fathers teach their sons about how they should treat people may be more important than what the law says.
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Christine Thompson replied to John Evans
And the courts are overloaded and the prisons are overfull.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
The act is a start but there is the question of power, personal dynamics, group dynamics. A woman I know working in an all male environment used to sign off the bills for taking customers to a strip club. Persumably she felt there were bigger battles to fight.
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A very sensible way of dealing with it, Linda. I had something similar in the magnet room where not many people went. I showed genuine boredom (looking back I think the person concerned who was quite nice had worries about his sexuality) and it was soon taken down.
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Again the power element comes in. I must have been fortunate in where I worked but I have never understood by women don't leave, tell personel why with names and slag the organisation off as a bad place to work in any fora where it will damage them. Thats the sort of thing top management worry about.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
For male on male horseplay all of 4 is relevant.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
A lot of the appalling stories one reads about how African American women were treated by white American men would be an example of discrimination related sexual harrassment (and worse). Dignity related sexual harrassment often depends on the individual - some women will be crushed by a remark that other women will just laugh at or push back. I used to...
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Its continuum and some of it could have been covered by existing law. But the power element is very important.
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@JanCantle What was wrong was the suggestion that they should use it to their advantage. Especially as advice to naive young women who may not realsie how easily flirting moved into rape.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I know this is designed to encourage young people to think about issues and decide if they want to be lawyers. I also accept that the law can be an important way of influencing moral attitudes (my view is that it should always be slightly behind public opinion but I am interested that we have had no discussion of public opinion polls and the negative effect of...
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They should have to sign something saying they will not use NHS or public facilities if anything goes wrong and complusory insurance. It is a matter of complete indifference to me if stupid individuals choose to do this. (There is the question of whether they have a mental illness). I accept the arguement that there is a risk it is driven underground but...
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This is being discussed to help us to learn to reason like a lawyer but as someone who pays their salaries I would hope Parliament would have better things to do than this minority interest. A very 1 st world problem.
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One of the problems with western society is that it puts much too much stress on individual autonomy and not enough on the individual's interactoin with society. What we owe society (or our fellow human beings) and what they owe us is a much more interesting question.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
My strongest reaction to this (and similar dilemmas) is why should I and society in general have to waste time and emotional energy on these issues when there are far more important moral issues that affect far more people. If a sane adult has body modifications done to them they should accept the consequences and not expect sympathy, court time, money or NHS...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
FGM causes a range of problems through out life and especially in pregnancy. Male circumcision as far as I know does not (and some people feel it has advantages). I think for body mutilation there are 2 issues the person may later regret it and if there is damage to the person the NHS might end up paying. One way forward might be to say that they or the person...
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Christine Thompson replied to Jan Cantle
@JohnEvans No. that's how they earn their money. if something was clearly written there might be less disagreements
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Christine Thompson made a comment
i agree with the comments of many of the participants that you need a mix of the 2 approaches. lso there has been no mention of unequal power. Someone with less bargaining power for what ever reason may have to accept a contract that is not in their interest. eg selling your car for less than it is worth because you desperately need the money.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Please talk to your economics lecturers about all the problems of achieving allocative efficiency and the assumptions that underlie it.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
There's a saying 'honour amongst thieves.' And the thought of a hit man might help enforce the contract.
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This is a very simplified version of Pareto optimality. It requires that a whole range of conditions are satisfied eg that there is no advertising and most of them don't apply in modern Western society. However lets see where it leads to with tort law.
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I don't understand why anyone should think someone does have a right to publish pornograpy. Would they have a right to publish suggestions that all foreigners in a country should be killed?
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I'm not sure. See my previous comment
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I think you use whatever approach best fits the case. You have to think about the consequences but there are also lasw and tabbos that if they are broken they have a serious effect on society. (for what its worth there are mush more interestinf versions of the trolley problem when the dilemmas get eally interesting. Also in essence it the same as the party...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Where's the article?
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Christine Thompson made a comment
No one has mentioned society's values. in both Ann and Pedro's cases there is the implication that ones work is considered more important than friendship or even more important the well-being of ones child.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I can't find a video.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
1 Ann has made a mistake in not doing something effective to remind her of her friends birthday. Antonia has made several mistakes - appears to have been unaware of the speed limit, she did not know what her speed was and she did not pay sufficient attention to the fact that she was near a school at closing time and therefore there might be children behaving...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
At least this had the advantage of motiviatign me to reply to a friends e-mail that has been sitting there for 2 weeks. (My excuse was I was trying to think what to say). And where does ' ignorance of the law is no excuse' come into all of this.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
This is so pedantic, even accepting that it is to improve our skills of critical thinking. If you know you tend to be forgetful there are wasy to allow for this (people have suggested several). I send brithday cards well in advance marked open of such and such a date.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Looking at it practically she could now send a gift and an apology and explain how overworked she was. But there is no real excuse for it and she may have to accept she has lost her best friend. And why dow her mother need to remind her of things.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
useful guide to critical thinking.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I once hit someone hard in teh face raising a hockey stick too high (which is against the rules of hockey) but I hadn't realised I had raised it so high or that she ws behind me. And I have regretted hasty remarks I have made that could have been better phrased. I think these are moe liely to cause offence when the person doesn't knwo you well or has problems...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
For the well being of society it seems to be me a very dangerous assumption that you are not responsible for the affects of an action because you were careless. if that view is accepted why should any of us bother to be careful?
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I think there are different ages for types of understanding. So a child may not understand complicated fraud but if they have been brought up in a moral environment they know that murder and stealing is wrong. It's a different situation if they have not been brought up in a moral environment. Kohlberg did some very interesting work on stages of moral...
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Wouldn't it be better if they got treatment for an addiction before they committed a crime.
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I would take the view that there should be a decision as to whether they were guilty of what they were accused of and THEN if there were extenuating circumstances and if types of treatment would be appropriate. At no point has it been mentioned that many of the people in prison have mental health problems. In the past they might have been in a lunatic asylum....
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Christine Thompson made a comment
No. Even if the higher control centres of the brain are disengaged why should you think of killing someone rather goign to water the vegetable patch.
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Christine Thompson replied to John Evans
@JohnEvans Possibly because they will then turn on you and harm you.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
It wouldn't be acceptable to strangle an intruder.
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@JohnathanBrownsill I think thats a very valid point that the general public assumes pleading insanity will get a lighter sentence (it may not).
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I think it would be a more helpful approach to concentrate on the harm that has been done to people and the wider society and what might be done in the future. If you are 'insane' but it only manifests in wearing weird clothing you are not harming society or yourself.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I would say in reality there is more than one. A lot of UK political discussion has been about the recognition of the European Court of Justice (I may be gettign the name slightly wrong) and when that should apply. It might be much simpler if there was only one recognised authority.
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The situation was so artificial that the vote doesn't tell us much. I voted no but in more normal circumstances eg there might be a car around I would vote yes. And what if you were rushing a dangerously ill person to hospital?
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Scientists would say you use the most appropriate theory. Natural law may be a useful ideal case but not work in some circumstances. And we have had no recognition of the fact that Aqinas was writing when questioning the law or disobeying it got you hung or worse.
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I think Austin's position is very sensible. After all if the police and the courts can and do inforce then it is the law.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I agree with what Hilary, Matei and Wayne said. There is a saying 'I would wish the country to be governed by the law but not by lawyers'. Try Reading Jonathan Haidt 'Why good people disagree' which is based on useful sociological evidence.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
See what I said previously. I think this is a very unproductive approach for deciding questions of law and morality.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I don't think the contrpositive appraoch helps with anything. A distinction between morals and the law. Unjust and unfair. The sociological/political effect of not obeying the 'Law of the Land' is important. and that's before we get onto the power structure at the time Aquinas was writing.
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While people are not totally rational and we are beginning to understand how important emotions can be a rational law is easier to understand and possibly amend. We are more liely to obey it. If Rishi Sunak passed a law saying we must wear red most people would say why? and ignore it. if a law said wearign red stops you being bitten by mosquitoes and...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
It says something about present day society that this code of conduct is thought necessary. 50 years ago there were more generally accepted standards (which may have meant a lot of disagreements were swept under the carpet.)
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Christine Thompson replied to Charles Barter
Too subtle for me. Could you explain.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
At the most basic, law is to ensure that society operates reasonably efficiently and we don't all end up blind and toothless.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
To give some of my background. I have a degree in Physical Sciences and another in Economics. I worked as a teacher and for an international devlopment charity. I always tried to ensure my students understood the why as well as the what.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I'm interested in the relationship between the law, morals and values. Also when/why common standards break down as they seem to be at the moment. And the connection between the law and rationality. Also why can't lawyers and MPs write clearer laws. I have lived in a variety of societies so I think the intention behind the law is oftern the most important aspect.
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Christine Thompson replied to Frank James
I haven't been able to fiind material in sections 4.15 and 4.16.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Very interesting. And quite a sad end for a great amn even if he did have flaws.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I'd have liked a lot more about his discovering new elements especially boron. I realise it wasn't the remit of this course but the lack of science understanding was depressing. Please look up the definition of a compound and an element and don't use them interchangeably.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
In this course there doesn't seem much attempt to understand or sympathise with people who 'came up' from a non- elite background. This attitude was and still is very prevalent. I was talking to a friend who had had a successful career as a quantity surveyor and when he started out was regularily patronsied because he went to a secondary modern school. We...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Depressingly snide article that does little to explain the main issues. We still have a cabinet that doesn't contain scientists and more importantly doesn't know how to question scientists to clarify the important issues. (which one would have hoped was something that people schooled in the humanities were trained to do ie ask the right questions).
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Christine Thompson made a comment
As someone said when Snow first put forward the idea 'why talk about 2 cultures there are far more' given the silo effect of university departments and limited time for academics to interact with each other. It has go better since the 60s with more interdisciplinery courses. Medical departments that once insisted on 3 science subjects now encourage applicants...
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Liverpool apologised for its involvement in enslavement years ago.
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There are estimated to be 80 million enslaved people in the world today. The transatlantic slave trade is estimated to have transported 10 million people in total.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Davy was a man of his time. It's not a good historical attitude to judge someone by the standards that now prevail. You can be a great scientist and totally immoral (I am told some recent scientists are/were.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
has resemblances to Prince Harry's battles with the press.
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Interesting that he has no problem with the unequal division of property considering he came from humble beginnings. A child of his time in that regard. Roll on Marx.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Of course its vital they record exactly what they did and what happened. Science attachs great important to being able to reproduce results. (there's an interesting discussion there as some important ones have not proved possible to reproduce). Quite small things may be important to the results and success.
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So petty. did anyone ask the miners which they preferred?
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Christine Thompson made a comment
So boring. The lamp was very important at the time but is now irrelevant.
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Christine Thompson replied to Enid Lee
@EnidLee I'm very surprised you didn't know much about the miners strike. It was very violent, very doctrinaire views from Margaret Thatcher. most of the country supported the miners. If the coal industry had been treated in a more sensible considerate way we might not be in the energy crisis we are now.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Intuition has always played a part in science. The brian works in many ways. 'Have the idea and then find the evidence to support it'. The solution to the problem of the flat benzene ring with all the bonds equal in length came from a dream the scientist had about a serpent eating its tail. Much later the discovery of pi orbitals gave a deeper explanation.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Very nostagic looking at the lab. There wasn't the same obsission with safety and procedures even in the 1960s. the sodium in water experiment (the potassium and water is even more violent) ISN'T NOW ALLOWED IN SCHOOLS. It can only be shown on a video.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
- micro history /macro history / "big history"
What the bushrangers were, a wider picture than just Ned Kelly
A more rounded picture of the aboriginal people and how they were treated. -
Christine Thompson made a comment
other people hav said those I was gogn to name. People who see themselves and are treated as the underclass will always have a sneaking admiration for those who are prepared to buck the system. Not in the same category but the british miners strike had a great deal of public support.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
No. Any prison system means that society has already failed. most of the people in UK prisons now have mental health problems and drug addiction. Prisons have basically replaced the old asylums and are worse.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
on the whole it seems to have been better. Once you finished your sentance you might be able to make a good life for your self.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
ii looked for Child thinking it would be a minor and interested to see what they might have done and how they were treated. instead I got a baker surname CHILD who stole money from his employer, found guilty of embezzalment and improisoned in England.
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No.Certainly not if it was for 'trade union' activities.
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Christine Thompson replied to Judi Boutle
Very interesting and I found the different ways of doing history description enlightening but it made me realise why I didn't study history at university. i like a few facts not endless theories.
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Can't remember what I used. Whatever was standard in UK 60s-80s.
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@FleurBeerling What would 'most Australians' do with them?
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Christine Thompson made a comment
While its very useful to find out what attitudes were in the past i don't think it helps to judge people by our standards. i do wish in all the corrent debates there was more emphasis on what we can do NOW and how to live n a way that respects otheres and other world views.
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Very interesting. is there any evidence of links between aboriginal peoples and the maori and other south Pacific Islanders.
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the Uk was not united. England became a fairly united country with alfred but the Scots and the Welsh saw themselves as different (and still do!)
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Christine Thompson made a comment
has echos of how the israelis view the Palestinians and themselves.
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The English (Anglo Saxons) were conquered by the France (Vikings) and might have been much better if they hadn't been. A lot of the things that are wrong with England trace back to the Norman conquest. The aristocracy and land tenure system for example.
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@MichaelBath Hi Michael to help the rest of us get context which is your country?
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I don't see the problem with prtraying the Aboriginal peoples as the first migrants. I'm a Brit and that is one way that British history is now beig looked at - the Celts were some of the first migrants. It links in with all or some Homo Sapiens moving out of africa. has anyon researched how Aboriginal people fit in with this, Where they from Africa or...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
At one point in this week it was said that one of the reasons someone became an elder was because they were conformist. Traditional knowledge is important but when there is no way to question the established order it becomes more difficult to deal with change eg how people cannot change their mindset to deal with the Climate Emergency.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Traditionally history has been written by the winners and the powerful but we are now trying to get a more balanced picture. However a culture does need an accepted myth to bind it together.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
I'm interested that there was no negotiation on whether anything could be done to placate the giant kangeroo. But the biblical story of the flood has echoes in many Middle Eastern cultures which suggests that in the dim past there was a very bad flood in that area.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
My grandparents had a large number of children. I am still in contact with all my cousins but the link has gone with their children in most cases (not all). I never mastered the differenc between second cousins and first cousin once removed which my mother in law used to regard as important. Some African languages use a system that has some similarities with...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Until a few hundred years ago we operated in a similar way.
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There's been a lot of discussion about this in Britain. Liverpool apologized for its links to slavery about 20 years ago. What rarely is face is that many people feel that they cannot in any mean ful way apologise for what their great grandparents did, that the discussin is devisive and there are so many vital current issues that we could unit to improve....
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Fascinating. Very good explanation of the different ways of looking at history. it gave me a useful schema that I haven't had before.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Couldn't they compromise by having a European arrival day and 2 other days to celebrate events important to the indigenous peoples? Lucky them that they don't have anything more important to worry about.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Wanting to find out if they still kill the silk worms.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
It would have been helpful to finish with a brief summary of what we have covered and a link to the section it is in (since there isn't a search facility). Some of the material bored and annoyed me, it was more like adverts for washing machines than serious science. but some sections such as on tidal heating were very interesting and gave insight into what...
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Christine Thompson made a comment
ice brine ice sandwich article very interesting.
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Christine Thompson made a comment
Enceladus: Does this moon hold a second genesis of life? Very interesting article. Explains a lot.