At Home: Democracy Blues

Sick of politics? Disillusioned by the governmental machine? Disappointed in your local MP? You’re not alone; an increasing number of Canadians are becoming fed up with the whole thing.

As the Toronto Sun reports, ?Canadians are significantly less happy with the way their democracy works now than eight years ago.?

In 2004, 75 per cent of Canadians were ?satisfied with how our democracy works.? Now, that number’s taken a nosedive; just 55 per cent of Canadians feel good about the system.

Most specifically, Canadians are dissatisfied with the performance of their MPs, believing that they’re failing their constituents by ?[toeing] the party line at the expense of their constituents? needs and wishes.? Among those polled, 61 per cent of respondents said that MPs ?represent their party’s views? rather than those of the people whom they serve.

For example, 46 per cent said their MP represents the views of his or her constituents, while 61 per cent said MPs represent their party’s views instead.

The polls were conducted by Samara, an organization ?whose goal is to improve political and civic engagement.?

Around the World: The Nose doesn’t Lie

Poor Pinocchio; the wooden-puppet-turned-boy couldn’t tell a lie and get away with it, thanks to his ever-elongating nose. But while a growing nose remains firmly in the realm of fairy tales, here’s a surprising truth: The nose really can betray its lying owner.

As The Toronto Star reports, ?researchers have confirmed the human nose heats up . . . when we lie.?

A team at the University of Granada in Spain has used ?psychology and sophisticated thermography? to uncover the phenomenon, which they call ?the Pinocchio effect.?

According to the researchers, ?when a person lies they experience an increase in the temperature around the nose and at the orbital muscle at the corner of the eye.? This temperature rise occurs because ?anxiety is involved? in creating the lie. Normally, ?mental effort? results in the lowering of facial temperatures.