This week, the ultra-rich are making headlines for how they’ve gone about spending the billions that they’ve made over the pandemic. Many of them have purchased superyachts, driving sales for the mega-ships to record-highs in 2021. Jeff Bezos, the world’s most notorious superyacht customer, has a new ship, Y721, that is so large that a …
The US economic sanctions against Russian oligarchs will have some effect, but unfortunately probably won’t go far enough to stop Putin in his tracks. Most of the richest Russians – like Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov – who famously hold assets in the West will go largely unaffected by sanctions. Most oligarch wealth (both Russian …
To my loyal readers: It seems that I have chattered on a bit too much. The system tells me I have exceeded my allotted space (total news to me). So until I can get some brilliant techie to tell me what I can do about it I am silenced, speechless, but only temporarily, I hope. …
Continue reading ‘Taking a breather, albeit not willingly.’ »
The mayor of Hudson, Ohio, has resigned after warning that allowing ice fishing on a local lake could lead to prostitution. Mayor Craig Schubert, 65, told the City Council that authorizing “ice shanties” could lead to an “unintended consequence”—shacks built for sex work. In resigning, Schubert said his concern was “based on my prior television …
Continue reading ‘I had to read this twice. Where do these people come from?’ »
Education experts have found that grammar lessons may help children construct sentences, but not their ability to write stories. The team behind the study, which is believed to be the first of its kind, told The Times that their findings challenged the idea that primary school children should be taught about grammatical constructs such as …
The reasons: – 1. The manufacturing sector has lost more than 5 million jobs since 2000. Traditionally, more than two-thirds of manufacturing workers are men. 2. Research shows that one significant factor women look for in a partner is a steady job. As men’s unemployment has risen so their romantic prospects have declined. Between 1960 …
The following is part 1 of a précis of an article in the Washington Post of February 9: “The data are clear. Boys are more than twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention); are five times as likely to spend time in juvenile detention, …
Having ruled out the direct use of military force, the U.S. and its allies now must decide how to respond to this flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. One tool among many that should be considered is to attempt to strip Russia of its seat on the United Nations Security Council. Russia sits in one of …
Many years ago I was fortunate enough to have a college tutor who was an expert on Russian history. I spent many hours under his guidance. My knowledge has dimmed since then as I have concentrated on things like washing the dishes and putting out the trash for collection, but what I do know is …
Georgetown Law students recently requested a designated place to “break down and cry” after a lecturer questioned why President Biden has vowed to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court. In a meeting with the school’s dean, Black students said the suspension of lecturer Ilya Shapiro was insufficient, and that “reparations should include a …
Thanks to a complex publishing exercise by the Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Le Monde and other newspapers in Europe and around the world, a huge data leak has shed light on the owners of £80bn held in thousands of accounts in one of Switzerland’s foremost banks, Credit Suisse. They include people involved in torture, drug trafficking, …
“55 million Americans live in states that restricted their voting rights last year. And we know more harmful laws are coming this year that will threaten the stability of our election system. We need a federal response. The comprehensive Freedom to Vote Act has provisions that would improve election administration, election security, redistricting, campaign finance …
News from London Jacob Rees-Mogg, Lord Frost’s spiritual successor in his new role as minister for Brexit opportunities, has a novel approach. He told the Sun last week that he is bypassing the civil service to ask if anyone else in the country has any ideas about “Brexit benefits”. Sun readers are invited to write …
The cost of a trucksworth of fresh fruit from Spain to Bristol – £2,200 before Brexit, £3,600 after Brexit (BBCj My comment: It was always going to be thus.
In answer to a reader who, some while ago, sought a feel for daily life among the ancient Epicureans: There are so. any aspects of life about which we are ignorant. But we *do* know that Epicureans did not pool their assets all together, in any communal fashion, as other philosophical groups actually *did*; the …
