The outlook for wildlife would be grim even if the planet were not warming. According to a major report last year, 1 million species could soon be wiped out – a sixth mass extinction. The main cause at present is the loss of habitat, but over this century the changing climate is expected to push …
Although divorce only became legal in Spain in 1981, its rate is now one of the highest in the EU, at 57%. In order to correct this problem The Catholic church in Spain is to put engaged couples on marriage guidance courses lasting two to three years. At the moment, couples are given 20 hours …
According to Quartz*, last October was the first month since records began in 1980 that the US settled no refugees. For a country that was built upon immigration and refugees this is a startling matter. It is one thing to restrict immigration and be picky about who you let in, but quite another to refuse …
Contrary to impressions outside the US America is a very expensive country. Mobile phones, for instance cost on average $100 a month, twice the cost of a similar service in France and Germany. Healthcare costs are huge. I recently spent ten minutes with a foot doctor for correcting an in-growing toenail, billed at $473.00 Pharmaceuticals …
Continue reading ‘Monopolies again, and why they are un-Epicurean’ »
“The tyranny of home delivery is creating a new class division. There are those who deliver the boxes and those who get the boxes. There are now millions employed delivering more stuff to more people more quickly than ever before. Wages and work conditions are rock bottom . Insecurity, stress exploitation and alienation are sky …
Continue reading ‘Home delivery: sign of our divided times’ »
The Japanese may have devised the idea; I refer to their crass ”innovation” Where products have barely the life of a year. Oh, the speed from launch to truncation! Every few months a new model is born – – New colour, new size, or new speed – – And the prospect of spares for a …
“I do a lot of online shopping. I try to stick with the merchants that offer free two-way shipping and unlimited return policies (e.g., any time, any condition, no questions asked). I often order items in three sizes and four colors and return most of them. I keep something for a year or more and …
Continue reading ‘An ethical dilemma: taking advantage of generous guarantees’ »
Boeing timeline: 29 October 2018: A 737 Max 8 operated by Lion Air crashes after leaving Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board 31 January 2019: Boeing reports an order of 5,011 Max planes from 79 customers 10 March 2019: A 737 Max 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashes, killing all 157 people on board …
Continue reading ‘Boeing again: crashes and lousy management’ »
Putin is now claiming that Poland invaded Russia at the start of the Second World War and that the Poles and Nazis amounted to the same thing! Could this just be a joke in bad taste? It is , in any case, total fake news. Stalin signed the Stalin Ribbentrop pact expecting to acquire a …
Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing boss fired last month, will receive equity and pension benefits worth $62m. This was the head of a company whose staff have quietly told the Press that management are incompetent and interested mainly in maintaining profits and share price. 346 Passengers are dead because the company sold planes whose electronics were faulty, …
History shows that violence generally climbs in election years, and given the media-fueled polarization of Americans just now, 2020 bodes to be especially combustible in the United States (it has been such in the UK). Unlike 2001, when hate crimes peaked in the aftermath of al-Qaeda’s 9/11 assaults, this time the threat of violence is …
(This post is longer than usual, but most important, because it illustrates how the priorities of society have been perverted and corruption rules. It is not generally known to the British public, having been imposed by stealth. Epicurus, a kind man, would have been appalled) “Since 2017 Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) have taken over National …
Yes, I know! You have better things to do than think about them. But…… Some years ago my wife and I were walking down a London street when we encountered a group of photographer on the sidewalk, looking expectantly across the street at a block of flats. “Who are you waiting for?” I asked one …
”If you thought “the thought police” existed only in Orwellian fiction, then you haven’t been following a case in the U.K High Court. Douglas Murray Miller, a former constable, had posted a few ribald tweets on the subject of transgender self-identification. (Sample: “I was assigned mammal at birth, but my orientation is fish. Don’t mis-species me”.) …
Paul Theroux has announced that he is moving to Mexico. He feels the elderly in the US are “in superfluity”. They are slighted, ignored, and treated as deck cargo, not worth a thought, and occupying nice houses that could be occupied by the deserving young. “I think of myself in the Mexican way”, commentedTheroux, “not …
Europe has acquired a noxious American habit : the Sports Utility Vehicle. A third of new cars sold in Europe are now SUVs. The parents of school kids in my street in east London all seem to have a Nissan Qashqai or BMW X5 parked outside their house. Once, when small cars filled our roads, …
We may think we’ll be here forever – but Robert Harris reckons our civilisation is probably doomed. “The Roman Republic, Cicero, those people were just as clever,” says the novelist, 62. “The things that their society produced – its oratory, its philosophy, its painting – were as sophisticated as anything we do. But still …
John Richards, who is 96 and founded the Apostrophe Protection Society in 2001, is now terminating the Society. He is quoted as saying, “Fewer organisations and individuals are now caring about the correct use of the apostrophe in the English language”. So I thought a brief run- down on the rules would be a good …
The World Health Organisation recommends that 95 per cent of people need to be vaccinated against measles to achieve herd immunity, which stops the infection spreading through populations.) An estimated 169 million children worldwide have missed out on getting the first dose of a measles vaccine, according to Unicef. This includes nearly 2.6 million children …
Continue reading ‘Measles has made a shocking return to the US’ »
For years people have been complaining about Cyprus’s “golden passport” scheme. Launched in 2013, it offers citizenship to anyone investing €2m in Cypriot property, giving 4,000 members of the global mega-rich residency, voting rights and a back door into Europe. Earlier this year, President Nicos Anastasiades reacted angrily to claims Cyprus was abusing the practice …
