Boaty McBoatface and the False Promise of Democracy: Here’s What We’re Reading Today
The Daily 5 is Sharp’s essential reading list for what’s happening in the world today. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or subscribe to the Sharp Insider newsletter to stay up to date.
Here’s what we’re reading today.
1. Why you can’t find Prince’s music online
“It’s not that Prince hates the internet, per se. He’s run a slew of websites over the years, and as recently as 2013 started a new site just to release his single, ‘Screwdriver.’ He even started a subscription-based site for new music called the NPG Music Club that ran between 2001 and 2006. Hell, he won a Webby for it.
“No, what he hated, quite clearly, is the idea of being exploited by a ‘master.'”
2. Boaty McBoatface and the false promise of democracy
“British democracy has survived all sorts of things: the unraveling of the British Empire, independence movements in Ireland and Scotland, Prime Minister’s Questions. But never before has it confronted Boaty McBoatface.”
Is the Boaty McBoatface scandal a perversion of democracy? Or is this actually just how democracy tends to work?
3. Politicians actually keep most of their promises
The rise of Donald Trump is built largely on a dissatisfaction with the existing political class: “Politicians lie, that’s just what they do.” A 2014 study found that 83 per cent of Americans said they didn’t believe most politicians kept the promises they made while campaigning. Economics blog FiveThirtyEight crunched the numbers though and, as usual, the numbers don’t really line up.
4. More than 500 Ontario doctors billed over $1-million last year
The exorbitant billings represent a system badly out of balance Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins said at Queen’s Park on Friday. Almost half of the billings were made by diagnostic radiologists and ophthalmologists.
5. Eight people found dead in Ohio
Seven of the bodies were killed in what appear to be “execution-style” shootings. The killings were spread out between four locations, including 3 homes, in Pike County, a rural community about 80 miles east of Cincinnati, Ohio. The situation is not being treated as an active shooting and no arrests have been made.
