Dear Mr Cameron,
I feel compelled to write to you over the decision to retrospectively change the terms of student loans.
In 2011 I was appointed head of the Independent Taskforce on Student Finance Information. I worked with your ministers who said, unambiguously, that from April 2017 the £21,000 repayment threshold would start to rise annually with average earnings. This information was then communicated to students and formed a core part of the calculations about how much university would really cost them - including in student loan repayment calculators.
The decision to backtrack on this is hugely damaging. It means many lower- and middle-earning graduates will repay thousands more over the life of their loans.
However, even more important than the additional cost is the...
Lifestyle
Steve,
My attempt to simplify some of the confusion around drones...
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Dear Congressman Quigley,
We have met and communicated frequently in recent years, particularly with respect to U.S. military actions, and I am grateful for your attention to my concerns as a constituent.
As you know, I have worked with others around the country over the past several years to raise awareness about U.S. drone killings and to build support for bringing those killings to an end. I have written frequently in my own blog about drones, as well as worked with others in Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, the New England states, Washington, California, Arizona, and New Mexico, as well as other states, to build a national network and a critical mass to stop drone killing...
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Dear President Obama:
You once quite accurately pointed out how “the voices of ordinary Americans are drowned out by a privileged few in Washington”. In the spirit of this sentiment, as a father of children, and as a truly ordinary American, I feel compelled to write you a letter in this regard.
The CIA’s remote-controlled drone program, which your administration neglects to even acknowledge as real and happening, has gone from “effective surveillance tool” into being a weaponized delivery system of “targeted murder”.
In the glaring absence of a courtroom, jury, judge, or even a “commission” being tapped for officially establishing those that should be killed in such a manner, I insist that this is a decidedly “un-American” way of doing things.
I will refrain from hurling the...
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Dear Drone Operator,
Your drone hovered above me for about an hour yesterday and I thought I should fill you in on what was happening so you can fully enjoy the photos and video you captured. We can’t let yesterday go as a “missed connection!”
I was the short brunette in black workout pants and a black Jackson Hole t-shirt along the Boise River late in the afternoon. I was all alone on sandbar that stuck out along the water.
When I first noticed your drone above me, I thought you were just cruising the Boise River on a fall day. Nope. You dropped your drone even lower and stayed right above me for a good 45 minutes. Were you able to capture all of my emotions? At times, I was shaking, tears were streaming down my face and I was talking to myself. I really hope my streaked mascara is...
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Dear Ambassador
I have just received notification that grandmother Mary Anne Grady Flores was sent to prison on Tuesday to serve a six month sentence in the United States for having photographed a non-violent protest against drones at a point where she believed she was entitled to take pictures of the protest.
Before posting news of this amazing prison sentence on social media, I decided to contact you to register my astonishment and to protest most vigorously about the sentence. I have forwarded to you the report and shameful picture that I received courtesy of Democracy Now.
As a human rights activist, it becomes necessary for me to complain about human rights abuses in countries around the world, including the USA. The outrageous sentence imposed on Mrs Grady Flores may not...
2,224
Dear Pharmacists,
You know about the dangers of fluoroquinolone antibiotics. You know that Cipro, Levaquin, Avelox and the other fluoroquinolones can cause central nervous system damage that can show up as anxiety, depression, memory loss, depersonalization, loss of intellect and social connectedness, suicidal ideation, etc. You know that fluoroquinolones can cause permanent destruction of all the connective tissue in a person’s body, their tendons, ligaments, fascia and cartilage. You know that adverse reactions to fluoroquinolones can be delayed and that stopping the medication will do nothing to stop its path of destruction. You know that fluoroquinolones are contraindicated with NSAIDs and steroids. You know that they should NEVER be prescribed or administered to anyone under the...
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Dear Person With Mental Illness,
You are not a monster. You are a valuable, unique, wonderful human being who deserves everything grand that this life has to offer. Come out of the shadows and stand proudly in who you are.
You are not damaged. You are whole, regardless of having a mental illness. I like you the way you are. I wouldn't change you. I see you differently than you see yourself. I am not afraid of you or your illness... I am amazed by you. I am amazed by your courage, willpower, gifts and talents. I accept you, and your worlds of light and darkness.
Some people just have a "neighborhood" in their mind and they never get lost. You have endless terrain to explore, but sometimes you take a wrong turn and can't find your way home. I love your vast landscape and remember...
3,108
Dear Premier Notley,
First, let me congratulate you on the NDP’s stunning rise to power in Alberta. 40 years is too long to suffer through anything without seeing some change (and I say that almost completely without irony save for the little bit which, I assume, will become clear in the next few paragraphs.) I proudly voted for my local NDP representative, although I believe she lost to the PC candidate who, as I understand it, had avoided drinking the same Flavour-Aid as the rest of Prentice’s self-worshipping team. Was that too bitter? That sounds a little bitter. I actually like our local chap; he’s always spoken up for Silverado. No hard feelings there.
It’s wonderful to think that the NDP will bring about some positive change for the province. Of course, there are going to...
3,019
Greetings Gentlemen,
I hope this finds you doing better than me right now. My name is Ryan Williams-Virden, I, too, am a male of European descent. Let me get right to the issue at hand as to not waste your time. Gentlemen, I find myself compelled to reach out to you, not simply because it is incumbent upon me as a European with white privilege who is concerned with racial justice to speak up at moments like this (it is not the job of people of color to constantly be the teachers) but because I truly desire to build with you. I believe that when folks like us can problematize the culture and ideology that is whiteness we can finally move towards disinvestment and begin healing from its violence. It is only when this takes place that we will truly be able to be stakeholders in the...
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