Weblog on the Internet and public policy, journalism, virtual community, and more from David Brake, a Canadian academic, consultant and journalist

Archive forApril, 2008 | back to home

27 April 2008
Filed under:Current Affairs (World) at2:37 pm

Richard Conniff at the NY Times suggests that what we pay to governments could be better described as the ‘dues’ we pay to live in a civilized society. “‘tax’ comes from the Latin for “appraise” with punitive overtones of “censure” or “fault,” as if wage-earners have done something wrong by their labors. ‘Dues,’ in contrast, is rooted in social obligation and duty.” I hope this one catches on…

4 April 2008

I’m in the Crouch End Festival Chorus and our upcoming concert – on a Saturday in the evening and repeated on a Sunday at 15:00 in the afternoon – promises to be particularly good. It’s a series of a cappella pieces including the rather tricky Spem in Alium by Tallis which involves splitting the chorus into eight choirs dotted around the church we are performing in.

If you want to hear the kind of singing we are capable of there are several clips of recent performances on the chorus’ MySpace page.
Hope you can make it!