Garrulous Geek

One of the things I was given for Christmas, was a book that you may have heard of. It's called "Freakonomics" and it provides a rather unconventional look at the way the world works, tackling such issues as eduction, parenting, crime and so forth. It's fairly well written and makes for a pretty compelling read. It's occasionally guilty of the third kind of lie, but generally speaking the arguments and reasoning appear sound, if a little of the wall. The tone errs on the side of editorialising, but this is aimed at being a popular paper back for the casual economist, so that goes with the territory. Either way, it's a good read and I'd recommend it, if only to those with a passing interest in statistics and the like.

Yesterday I read a chapter concerning the fall of crime in the USA during the late eighties and early nineties, which surprised everyone as crime was expected to skyrocket at that point. The authors debunk various theories - improved policing, gun control, strong economy among others - and settle, with a knowing air of controversy - on the notion that it was the legalisation of abortion that led to falling crime. The argument goes that unwanted children are more likely to turn to crime, so as the legalisation of abortion (Roe v Wade 410 U.S. 113, for those of you who really want to read a full case note. For the less keen, the edited highlight can of course be found at Wikipedia) leads to less unwanted children, less crime logically follows. The reasoning is persuasive, albeit somewhat distasteful, and it certainly treads a fine line between utilitarianism and Machiavellianism. The idea that we can reduce crime at the cost of however many million unborn babies is certainly difficult to weigh up.

I am reminded, at this point, of another economic notion that I have come across in my limited flirtations with the subject. There exists a logical fallacy, known as "the parable of the broken window" which was conceived by a French economist in 1850. The fallacious argument goes that if a window happens to be broken, this is a good thing, because it makes work for the glazier, who can then spend his earnings on bread, such that the baker then has money to buy a pair of shoes from the cobbler, and so forth. The factor that is overlooked is of course that the owner of the original window has paid out the cost of the repair, and has nothing to show for it. He has borne the cost of the improvements to the rest of the economy, and the end result is that the system as a whole is worse off to the tune of one window.

It may be a sound argument to say that the abortion of many children is a good thing if it reduces crime. Society benefits from lower crime, and there is much rejoicing. The problem that is overlooked is that society has lost millions of children, and has arguably committed an act of corporate murder, depending on where you stand on the abortion issue. As for myself, I come at things from a Christian perspective, albeit a fairly liberal one. I disapprove of abortion for reasons of lifestyle, laziness and contraception, but I think it's probably OK if there is a great risk to the child or mother. All of which leaves me in the position of considering the cost of abortion to be a pretty steep one to pay for the prize of lower crime rates.

The real difficulty with this sort of thinking is that I'm pretty much bound by the nature of this life to think in terms of "the lesser of two evils". The thing is, I don't want the lesser of two evils. What I want is no evils. I don't want to have to pick between two bad things to try to achieve one good thing. The brick wall that I come up against is that this world is fundamentally broken, and no amount of chopping and changing can fix it. The window was broken way back in The Garden of Eden, with the apple debacle, and we've been attempting to pay off the glazier ever since. The sad truth is that the system can not be fixed from within, and requires an outside influence to sort things out - in short, it can only be done by God, by way of salvation through Jesus. That's the only way that this particular window can be fixed. Any other solution is short term and limited. We may fix one thing, but it will always be at the cost of something else, until we look for something beyond this world to help us out.

By way of easing my way back into blogging, here's an easy option... one of those quiz things that goes round. Not very interesting, I know, but it's been a while... I'll get back into it soon enough.

Quiz...

1. Was 2007 a good year for you?

Yeah, it was OK. It wasn't spectacular... I didn't do as much exciting stuff as last year - no new houses or babies. It wasn't bad though.

2. What was your favourite moment of the year?

I had a good time in Finland on holiday. It was fun taking Beth swimming in the lake, I liked that. She couldn't walk on her own yet, but she liked paddling while I held her up. There's pictures on Facebook.

3. What was your least favourite moment of the year?

My Grandma in Finland died, which was pretty rubbish, although we had been expecting it. Still, funerals are never great times, are they?

4. What are your plans for 2008?

More of the same, really... Work and look after my family. Try to get back on track with God. What a mess that is. I need to reprioritise a lot of things... Stop worrying about things I'm going to buy, stop wasting time on pointless things, get back in touch with people. It's all a bit messy at the moment.

5. What countries did you visit?

Last year I visited Finland, twice - holiday and then funeral. I don't think I went anywhere else. I don't think I even went to Wales.

6. What date in 2007 will remain etched in your memory?

Beth's birthday in June was good. We went on the big wheel in Manchester, then had tea in Cafe Rouge.

7. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Beth getting to a year old, our marriage getting to three years old... More ongoing achievements than landmark single events.

8. What was your biggest failure?

Continuing my slide away from any kind of meaningful relationship with God. I still believe it all, but I can't get excited about it these days. That and not doing enough work for my course. Oops.

9. Did you suffer any illness or injury?

Coughs and colds, but nothing major. Had a bit of surgery to remove a nasopalatine cyst from the roof of my mouth. It turns out I'm in the lucky 10% for whom the nerves get damaged, so I've lost some feeling behind my teeth. Never mind.

10. What was the best thing you bought?

Probably our Nintendo Wii. Awesome. We got it for Christmas, but I had the foresight to buy it in September, anticipating the rush. It's great fun.

11. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

I had a very rough drunken night back in February... That was pretty bad. That or the drunken trip to the strip club in October or whenever. How embarrassing.

12. Where did most of your money go?

Things I bought on ebay... CDs, DVDs and games for the Nintendo DS. I'm well into Nintendo at the moment, so loads of my cash went that way.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Our holiday in Finland, as I'd not been for a couple of years and I really like it there. It's beautiful.

14. What songs will always remind you of 2007?

I've listened to the radio a lot this year... There's been lots of songs I've gotten really sick of, rather than ones I've really liked. I've not got bored of the Mark Ronson/Amy Winehouse cover of Valerie by the Zutons. That was good.

15. Compared to this time last year are you:

• Fatter or thinner? A bit fatter. It's all those trips to London and eating two cooked meals a day.
• Happier or sadder? Probably a bit sadder... I'm feeling the pressure with work and my course. That's kinda getting me down.
• Richer or poorer? A bit richer.

16. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Studying, praying, reading the Bible. Sleeping too... I've fallen into bad habits of staying up too late wasting time and doing nothing of any use at all.

17. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Wasting time on the Internet. Ugh... how dreary.

18. How will you be spending Christmas?

I spent Christmas with my family - first my immediate family, then we saw Alison's relatives and then mine. It was busy, but good to see people I'd not seen in a while.

19. Which LJ/MySpace users did you meet for the first time?

I don't have accounts on either LJ or Myspace, as I am not 14.

20. Did you fall in love in 2007?

No, for reasons that should be obvious to most readers!

22. What was your favourite TV show?

Heroes was very good. I watched some more 24 on DVD too.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Who has time to hate people? It's time consuming enough trying to like people.

24. What was/were the best books you read?

I think I read Day Of The Triffids this year. That was great. I got into reading the original James Bond novels too. They're really good, much better than the films. Live And Let Die was excellent.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I got into The White Stripes, who I think are pretty good. I'm trying a bit of hip-hop too, but it's yet to really grab me. I can see the talent, but I find it hard to actually enjoy it.

26. What did you want and get?

A Nintendo Wii.

27. What did you want and not get?

Enough good marks on my homework, but I only have myself to blame for that really!

28. What was your favourite film this year?

I don't even remember what I've seen this year... American Gangster was good. I saw Die Hard 4.0 too, which was pretty much what you'd expect - silly action and whatnot. Oh yeah, and we watched The Last King Of Scotland on DVD which was brilliant.

29. What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?

My birthday... I don't think I did anything special. I went to church, then I think I travelled to London for a week of training. Lucky me. I was 25.

30. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?

Knowing I'd done some more work instead of wasting time.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

Haha, I love the idea of a "personal fashion concept". Again, who has the time? I'm still wearing clothes I bought years ago. My "personal fashion concept" was "If it's not got holes in it yet, then you can keep wearing it and avoid spending money on new clothes".

32. What kept you sane?

My calm, easy going nature. And tea.

33. Which celebrity did you fancy the most?

Kelly Brook on Strictly Come Dancing. Her and Camilla Dallerup, also of Strictly fame. We're going to see the Strictly tour in February. I think both Alison and I will be eyeing up several of the competitors!

34. Which political issue stirred you the most?

CCTV, ID cards, all that crap. You can argue about whether it's Orwellian or not, but it's hard to see it as anything but a rubbish waste of money. The other thing that wound me up was tax credits... What a pain in the arse.

35. Who did you miss?

Alison and Beth while I was on training. Also, most of my friends from back in the day. I'm rubbish at keeping up with people at the best of times, let alone when I'm busy with work and everything else.

36. Did you treat somebody badly in 2007?

I probably didn't always make the most of the time with my wife and daughter.

37. Did somebody treat you badly in 2007?

I don't think so, no.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year?

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. You have to work at it.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year...

Pick a few lines from Fitter Happier and you're pretty much there.