Lifestyle topics
“People think that development comes first through infrastructure and economy. They are wrong. It comes first through peace and harmony”. Quote from a local government official of the island of Patexux, in the Ninigo Islands, 150 miles north of Papua New Guinea. Until recently there was no formal alphabet or written form of Seimat, the …
A great furore has broken out about surveillance by government of anyone deemed to be dissident, via Facebook, Google, Verizon etc. Why is everyone is so surprised? During the disastrous Iraq war this blog fiercely attacked the Bush Administration. More accurately, it poked fun at its incompetence and its ignorance of Iraqi (and Moslem) culture. …
The British government is introducing a new system of paying benefits to the out of work. It is called Universal Credit. All claims for the new benefit, and all subsequent contact between recipients and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will take place online (!). Users will have individual accounts that will be “easy” …
Continue reading ‘Making state benefits that little bit more stressful to receive’ »
Over the past decade, the US’s suicide rate has surged, particularly among the middle aged: it’s up almost 30% for those between 35-64. Why? Many have pointed to the economic downturn, but others have also sought to pin the rise on cultural factors, citing the “retreat from community” and the decline of institutions such as …
Continue reading ‘A rise in the rate of suicides in the US’ »
There are 50% more first names now than there were 25 years ago. Why? Because the gulf between rich and poor is “nowhere clearer than on the nation’s birth certificates”. Names used to be relatively classless; the sons of a labourer and a lord might both be called Anthony. Now, middle-class parents stick to old-fashioned …
