Lifestyle topics
When they hear the phrase “With the greatest respect…”, 68% of Britons think it means “I think you are an idiot”, while 49% of Americans interpret it as “I am listening to you”. When told “I’ll bear it in mind”, 55% of Britons assume it means “I’ve forgotten it already”, whereas only 38% of Americans …
Rome The number of civil marriage ceremonies in Italy has overtaken the number of church weddings for the first time – a major social shift in the once firmly Catholic country. As recently as 1970, only 2.3% of weddings in Italy were civil ceremonies. Last year, that proportion rose to 50.1%, according to official statistics. …
“Most of the ills relating to our housing start with the morally reprehensible idea that it’s OK in a time of shortage to treat dwellings as mere investments. Yet when the Labour Party in Britain reasonably suggests holiday homes should pay double council tax, affluent owners whimper. Any suggestion of stiffer capital gains gets pearls …
Continue reading ‘A home is not a wallet: homelessness in the UK’ »
To The Guardian I love Kingsley Amis’s response to a challenge about the usefulness of apostrophes: “Those things over there are my husbands.” Three different possible meanings. Bryan Morgan, Worksop, Nottinghamshire …and a butcher’s trick To The. Daily Telegraph: I once saw a notice outside our local butcher. It read “Sausage’s”. When I went in …
You might think that a little more empathy would help to heal the divisions in US politics, but it could actually worsen the situation by increasing polarisation. A recent survey found that those with a disposition for “empathic concern”, one of several traits that make up general empathy, seem to be more politically polarised. They …
Continue reading ‘People with more empathy might be sharpening divisions’ »
