Equity, Eve, Martial Arts, Oscar Wilde, Sierra Leone, Universities
A Law Student’s Guide To Equity
Sam Bray | Volokh Conspiracy | 21st July 2016
When lawyers talk about “equity” they can mean at least three things, most generally “a moral reading of the law”. The original construction comes from Aristotle: “The equitable is just; not the legally just, but a correction of legal justice. All law is universal, but about some things it is not possible to make a universal statement which will be correct. When the law speaks universally, and a case arises which is not covered by the universal statement, then it is right to correct the omission” (3,300 words)
Chris Sizemore, Multiple Personality
Obituary | Telegraph | 28th August 2016
Sizemore’s history of multiple personality disorder was filmed as The Three Faces Of Eve. When she wanted to authorise another film about her life years later, 20C Fox argued that in signing the contract for Three Faces she had surrendered the rights to “all versions of my life story heretofore published or hereafter published”. Sizemore’s lawyer retorted that she had not been in her right mind when signing; “Eve White, Eve Black and Jane had all added their names”. The case was settled out of court (816 words)
How I Became A Cage-Fighting Coach
Alex Reynolds | New Statesman | 30th August 2016
After kick-boxing professionally for nine years in Thailand, the writer moves to America as a mixed-martial-arts coach. “I tried inspiring them with the basics. Train hard, fight easy. Know your craft and you can become an artist. Never lose your temper, you can’t win a fight when you are angry. Don’t forget to keep your corner and the coach sweet. Be sure to ask about the money before the fight and make sure the man holding it understands that you know his full name and address” (1,000 words)
Oscar Wilde’s ‘De Profundis’
Colm Tóibín | Guardian | 26th August 2016
From his cell in Reading gaol, Wilde produced “one of the greatest and most complex love letters ever written”, De Profundis, addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas. “Wilde’s love for Douglas had turned into a sort of bitterness. The tone of his letter manages to capture that bitterness as well as the extraordinary attachment he felt for Douglas. There is a beautiful, calm eloquence, and a sense of urgency, of things being said because there might not be time or opportunity to say them in the future” (1,680 words)
When Intervention Works
David H. Ucko | War On The Rocks | 31st August 2016
Case study. How and why the British military intervention of 2000-2002 succeeded in stabilising Sierra Leone. There was a clear political objective, and, with it, an exit strategy. The British army acted “to empower the government in Freetown and the UN mission on the ground. A common attribute of other interventions has been the singular failure to translate military gains into political objective, partly because there is no strategy tying the use of force to a viable end state” (2,600 words)
Are Universities Worth It?
Tim Harford | Undercover Economist | 31st August 2016
“Education is good, is it not? But everything has a cost. Education takes time. We could insist that everyone study full-time until the age of 45 but that would surely be too much. And if that’s too much, perhaps half the population studying until they’re 21 is also too much. If the London School of Economics were to be bulldozed and replaced by a hotel and apartments, social science would feel a grievous loss but I am not sure that many Londoners would notice the difference” (776 words)
Video of the day: The Simple Solution To Traffic
What to expect:
Cartoon explainer of how traffic jams happen. One errant car can cause a blockage that lasts for hours (5’13”)
Thought for the day
The younger we are, the more each individual object represents for us the whole class to which it belongs
Arthur Schopenhauer