#scarman

Those of you that know me know I have a disability. It is AMC. I’d like like to introduce you to my friend Ward Foley aka Scarman. Ward is an author and speaker and a Champion for AMC. Ward, like me, has AMC. He has ridden cross country bike rides in the past to bring awareness of AMC. In August he is venturing out again to ride across England to bring awareness of AMC. Please consider helping…

Little piece of something I'm doing for Halloween.

The late night news seems to sound strangely familiar. The problem is that 

What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of postwar history, but the end of history as such... That is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.

A bit dramatic but a quote from Fukuyama's End of History and the Last Man published in 1992.

But equally...

the riots were a spontaneous outburst of built-up resentment sparked by particular incidents. Complex political, social and economic factors created a disposition towards violent protest.

Of course, this is the conclusions of the Scarman Report from 1981 after the Brixton Riots (and to a lesser extent those of Toxteth and Moss Side). Wikipedia goes on to say...

The Scarman report highlighted problems of racial disadvantage and inner-city decline, warning that "urgent action" was needed to prevent racial disadvantage becoming an "endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society.

Then there is...

television reports around the world carried footage of starving Ethiopians whose plight was centered around a feeding station near the town of Korem. BBC newsreader Michael Buerk gave moving commentary of the tragedy

But this was 1984 and was the inspiration for the Live Aid series of concerts.

The market then fell sharply for a month, losing 17% of its value on the initial leg down. Prices then recovered more than half of the losses over the next week, only to turn back down immediately afterward. The decline then accelerated into the so-called "Black Thursday".

Or

Once the market started going down, the writers of the derivatives were "forced to sell on every down-tick" so the "selling would actually cascade instead of dry up".

The former is the description of the crash of 1929 on Wall St and the latter is from Black Monday from 1987.

However, the Fukuyama's End of History thesis was criticised and presented as a reification and even a celebration of the triumph of Western Capitalism. That is all looking a bit implausible from the viewpoint of current events.

Seems like a bad time to go on holiday.