Lifestyle topics
Welcome back to all kind readers! The British “Daily Star” ( which offers a take on the news that really “matters”) calls on readers to “do your bit for Britain”, as it reports that economists estimate every member of the public needs to buy 124 pints of beer to save our “beleaguered pub industry”. …
“Yesterday I was at my local store buying a large bag of My Dog dog food for my loyal pet and was in the checkout queue when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. “What did she think I had an elephant? So, since I’m retired and have little to do, on …
The mighty US dollar continues to reign supreme in global markets. But the greenback’s dominance may well be more fragile than it appears, because expected future changes in China’s exchange-rate regime are likely to trigger a significant shift in the international monetary order. For many reasons, the Chinese authorities will probably someday stop pegging the …
Continue reading ‘The future of the dollar (a bit long, but important)’ »
Fossil fuel companies in the US received billions of dollars in tax benefits through government coronavirus relief measures, but laid off tens of thousands of workers, figures show. A group of 77 firms received $8.2bn in tax-code changes under the massive stimulus bill passed by Congress last last year, and some benefited from the paycheck …
Thousands of British citizens in France have been left without a valid driving licence, or face losing theirs within months, because of bureaucratic overload and the failure of the two countries’ governments to sign a post-Brexit reciprocal agreement. “I’d say there are 3,000 who are seriously worried – for whom this has really become nightmarish,” …
The world’s 60 largest banks have provided $3.8tn of financing for fossil fuel companies since the Paris climate agreement in 2015, a coalition of NGOs have said. While the coronavirus pandemic has triggered a drop in energy use, funding is still net rising. US and Canadian banks comprise 13 of the 60 banks analysed but …
Continue reading ‘So much for fighting global climate change!’ »
This is the perspective of a native American: “Recently, Rick Santorum repeated a widely held myth of US exceptionalism. “We came here and created a blank slate, we birthed a nation from nothing,” the former US senator and CNN commentator told the rightwing Young America’s Foundation’s summit. “It was born of the people who came …
Why do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in our driveways and put our useless junk in the garage? My comment: A leading sociologist explained to me that usually there is too much junk in the garage, and you can’t open the car door sufficiently to squeeze into the driver’s seat. Why didn’t I think …
Just one dozen megadonors accounted for almost $1 of every $13 raised by candidates and political groups over the last decade, according to a new report by Issue One. While most Americans have a general sense that the ultra-wealthy have too much influence on our elections, the numbers in this study are shocking. For just …
An important philosophical question about life……. Why do supermarkets make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front?
The British government has made a lot of noises about how important it is to teach kids media literacy. In 2019, for example, the education secretary announced guidance on teaching online safety in schools. While that’s great in theory, “guidance” isn’t enough. You’ve got to put your money where your mouth is and actually invest …
The pandemic may result in 300,000 to 500,000 fewer babies born in the U.S. Lockdowns and fear kept young people from meeting and marrying, and the economic hardship discouraged many young couples from having kids. Among the 32 states that had annual data available, there were about 95,000 fewer births in 2020 compared with the …
Continue reading ‘The decline in the American birthrate, no. 2.’ »
Women are having fewer children than at any time on record. What are the implications? The U.S.’s total fertility rate, or the number of babies each woman is expected to have during her lifetime, reached a record low of 1.705 births per woman (that’s 1 point 705!)in 2019, the latest year for which data is …
University tutors are being told not to mark down work for spelling mistakes because insisting on correct English could be seen as “homogenous north European, white, male, elite”. The Times says several institutions are adopting “inclusive assessments” and Hull University says it will “challenge the status quo” by dropping the requirement for a high level …
A man has accused his former employer of being “childish” after he received his final payment of $915 in pennies. Andreas Flaten discovered the 90,000 coins at the bottom of his driveway, along with a final payslip and a parting message from the car workshop where he worked. The coins were covered in a greasy …
