Quick! Put your money IN to Northern Rock
September 17, 2007 by Jake Anders · 1 Comment
Those taking their money out of Northern Rock are behaving irrationally.
Beleaguered bank, Northern Rock, is the safest place to put your money. It’s the only financial institution on the High Street explicitly backed by the Bank of England for any amount of money held on deposit there. In these times of financial uncertainty, surely we should all rush to put out money there.
It seems unlikely that the BoE would give such a guarantee if Northern Rock were not solvent, as it would stand to lose a lot of money, and assuming the calculations done by Robert Peston of the BBC are correct, they are correct in their bet.
With the explicit promise to cover any shortfall in the event of a very unlikely meltdown of Northern Rock now in place to 100% of any amount, I only hope that savers resist this herd mentality and end this ridiculous spectacle.
Who knows, we may even see people start putting their money back in! After all, they’ve always been a highly recommended bank in the past. They have very competitive rates of interest, so even if no one else does, maybe I will! I’ve been looking for a good place to put my university savings…
DNA Database
September 17, 2007 by Jake Anders · Leave a Comment
There is no doubt that the national DNA database is an incredibly useful tool in the fight against crime, however it is also a potentially a very dangerous tool.
A senior judge, Lord Justice Sedley, recently suggested that everyone in the UK, including any visitors, should have their DNA samples taken and then stored on the police national computer. The logic for this is that it would be fairer than the present system where those on the database disproportionately represent minority groups in the country. It would also remove the stigma from those who are on the database.
However, the problem with this theory is that currently the media and, to some extent, our justice system treats DNA evidence as if it is irrefutable. While it may be highly unlikely that the actual DNA evidence is incorrect, we know that human error is a very real possibility, especially if the DNA samples are stored on one of the government’s infamous IT projects.
On the other hand, there is no doubt that the present system of anyone who has come into contact with the police being on the database is unfair, and has lead to a strong bias towards those from ethnic minorities having their data held. It would be better to respond to this situation by setting a time limit after which the DNA data held would be removed, assuming that the subject is not currently under investigation or similar.
Sources:
- Has our DNA database gone too far? - BBC News
- All UK ‘must be on DNA database’ - BBC News
