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Personal Reflections: The New England populist tradition

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-england-populist-tradition.html

Saturday, May 14, 2011. The New England populist tradition. I am about to bring up on the side bar a short notice explaining my political bias that I come from and am influenced by, the New England populist tradition. I feel the need to do this because of the way that my analysis often doesn't quite fit conventional modes. Sometimes it appears left, sometimes right, sometimes conservative, sometimes not. These traditions may seem very different, but they actually coalesced around a series of common conce...

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Personal Reflections: That Australian life - taking the $2 a day food challenge

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2015/05/that-australian-life-taking-2-day-food.html

Wednesday, May 06, 2015. That Australian life - taking the $2 a day food challenge. A friend is undertaking the $2 dollar a day. Challenge: "Eat on $2 a day for five days, raise funds and help end extreme poverty." I wrote this in response:. To Alison McLaren. Will give donation Wednesday, but now a few suggestions based on my own experience. I am posting here (on my personal Facebook page) rather than commenting because I can write longer. So, what's cheap? Add some margarine - $1.79 IGA Sunday....It's ...

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Personal Reflections: Sunday snippets - problems with evidence based public policy

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2015/05/sunday-snippets-problems-with-evidence.html

Sunday, May 03, 2015. Sunday snippets - problems with evidence based public policy. There has been quite a robust discussion on my post Indonesian executions - reflections on the death of eight prisoners, including Bali nine organisers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan. I have promised to write something to disentangle all the issues, at least as I see them. Not a for and against piece, just a forensic teasing out. Maybe tomorrow. As part of a discussion on the D E Stevenson group, a US member wrote:.

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Personal Reflections: Changes in Public Administration - Notes

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2006/11/changes-in-public-administration-notes.html

Friday, November 03, 2006. Changes in Public Administration - Notes. This post simply records in note form some of the major trends affecting public administration since 1945 for later reference. The term " welfare state. Came into popular use in Commonwealth countries at the end of the second world war. The social hardship of great depression created a desire in Governments for action to protect citizens. This was aided by the work of John Maynard Keynes. The 1942 UK Beveridge Report. The end of the war...

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Personal Reflections: Monday Forum - a very jaundiced forum

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2015/05/monday-forum-very-jaundiced-forum.html

Monday, May 18, 2015. Monday Forum - a very jaundiced forum. This Monday I really found myself out of ideas on just what to suggest as a Forum topic. We could, I suppose have another go at Mr Abbott's views. On refugees. It's hard to believe that Australians were once appalled when the Malaysian military forced Vietnamese boat people back into the water to drown. But then, we were admitting so many at the time. . Still, we have been down this path before. Or we could talk about Parkinson's Law of Gov...

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Personal Reflections: The application of evidence based approaches 2 - A note on evidence based policy

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-application-of-evidence-based_19.html

Tuesday, May 19, 2015. The application of evidence based approaches 2 - A note on evidence based policy. This brief note continues my discussion on what are called evidence based approaches. At the start of The application of evidence based approaches 1 - Evidence Based Medicine. The discussion on Monday Forum - more on evidence based approaches. Is not especially good, but it does refer to the transmission of the particular form of the idea from medicine to public policy. Mr Banks and the Productivity C...

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Personal Reflections: Higher Education

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/p/higher-education.html

This page collects some of my posts on higher education across blogs. Wednesday, November 08, 2006, Australian Education 2016 - Looking Back. Friday, November 10, 2006, People Management in Professional Services - a training primer. Sunday, December 17, 2006, RANZCO Setting the Standard - Developing Ophthalmic Competencies. Sunday, December 17, 2006, Case Study: Potential use of Blogs as a communications device within specialist medical colleges. Friday, January 12, 2007, Creation and Use of Case Studies.

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Personal Reflections: On History, Causation and E J Tapp

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2006/04/on-history-causation-and-e-j-tapp.html

Monday, April 17, 2006. On History, Causation and E J Tapp. In my last post on history I made a distinction between topic selection and the approach that should be adopted in dealing with the topic. Here I argued in part that the purpose of historical analysis is to test, not prove. When proving or justifying becomes the central point, the discipline is lost. Upon reflection, while I still think that this is a valid point, it's also not the end of the story. Central to his thinking was the difference bet...

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Personal Reflections: Train Reading - Introducing The Travels of Marco Polo

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2015/05/train-reading-introducing-travels-of.html

Saturday, May 16, 2015. Train Reading - Introducing The Travels of Marco Polo. Used to be very disciplined. There was one simple rule. I had to pluck a book of my shelves that I had not read before and then read it until it was finished. No matter whether or not I liked it, it had to be finished. It's taken me down some interesting by-ways. However, in the last few years my train reading has become spasmodic, less rigorous. My copy of The Travels. By melding various accounts together into a coherent stor...

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Personal Reflections: History revisited 2014 columns now on line

http://belshaw.blogspot.com/2015/05/as-regular-readers-will-know-i-write.html

Sunday, May 17, 2015. History revisited 2014 columns now on line. As regular readers will know, I write the weekly history column for the Armidale Express. This photo is of the 1965 Freedom Ride at Moree. Most weeks, I have to turn out 500 words. It's not always easy. I get tired and the deadline seems too difficult, especially in the early hours of Friday morning when I have left it to the last moment. 2012 columns, 13. 2013 columns, 43. 2014 columns, 45. I hope that you find something of value in them.