INVENIRE

Undoing the work of the previous President is far from uncommon in American politics.  Therefore, it shocked no political observer when Biden authorised executive orders intended to stop the construction of the infamous southern border wall or to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. On the 24th of February, the Biden administration issued its 34th executive order so far, entitled, "Revocation of Certain Presidential Actions". This action gave orders for the repeal of seven Trump-era actions, ranging in subject from the operation of government agencies to economic reforms. One of the actions repealed, however, concerned the architectural style of federal buildings.  The Trump order, enacted in the final days of his presidency, provided guidelines as to the style in which civic buildings must be built. Given that the executive order option empowers a President to act without popular approval, it would be convenient for a President to keep the order short: a few sentences might suff...

More than eight months after Britain's first case of COVID-19, the country is still under acute restrictions. More than 700,000 have contracted the disease and more than forty thousand have died. With the highest case-fatality rate in Europe  and the eighth highest in the world,  it is widely accepted that the country's response to the virus has been a failure. However, many have erroneously concluded that the solution to the problem is a set of even more punishing restrictions. In response to the months of lockdown, political debate has erupted. A recent poll, courtesy of Sky News/You Gov, found that 67% of the country were in favour of a strict two-week lockdown. Any attempt to regress the country back into lockdown must be resisted; not only least because it is impractical, but because it is a poor response to the pandemic. In Wales, First Minister Mark Drakeford and his Labour Government have come under increasing scrutiny for their draconian response to the lockdown. Indi...

Intelligence is one of the most misunderstood concepts imaginable. Contrary to popular belief, intelligence is not too complex to be summarised; researchers found a method of doing so over a century ago. It is not easily changeable after childhood and is largely inherited. Lastly, intelligence has important ramifications, ranging from life expectancy to criminality. Although there are myriad types of intelligence tests, researchers in this field have observed that the level of correlation between intelligence tests that purport to measure different aspects of cognitive ability is high. This correlation was labelled g and is now what scientists are referring to when discussing intelligence. G was first proposed by English psychologist Charles Spearman, in his paper "General Intelligence" Objectively Determined and Measured. Spearman examined the results of various tests of both crystallised and fluid intelligences and noted a significant correlation between seemingly unrelate...

One of the major drawbacks of democratic countries is that they are susceptible to the potential ignorance of the people. There are two antidotes to this, one of which has long been ignored. The parliamentary system, in which the electorate chooses representatives, is the first. This, to some extent, eliminates ignorance, as less-informed candidates are less likely to be elected to hold office. The second antidote, an antidote that has been ignored, is cultural literacy. The term was first coined by American educator E.D. Hirsch, and it describes the cultural and historical knowledge required to function as a citizen of a particular country. Hirsch has correctly identified that Western curricula place too little emphasis on the learning of facts, and rather that they inaccurately assume that children will naturally acquire knowledge as they increase in their critical thinking skills. Hirsch first devised this concept in the early 1990s as a college lecturer in Richmond, Virginia. He ...

An opinion piece by a writer under the pseudonym of Jack Padfield. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the opinion of Invenire Media. Capital Punishment started as early as 18th Century BC in the Babylonian Kingdom. There have been many famous cases of capital punishment, including Jesus being crucified, French guillotining, and Queen Mary of England burning Protestants at the stake. It has been used all around the world, even today in more than 50 countries. Capital Punishment was formally abolished in the UK in 1965 when Harold Wilson’s Labour Government came to office. The House of Commons, in a free vote, voted by 343 to 185 that the Abolishment of the Death Penalty Act should not expire. The last execution in the UK took place in 1964, and in a poll conducted by YouGov in 2014, only 45% of the public supported the capital punishment system, compared to 51% from a similar survey 4 years ago. America is one of the most developed countries to still...