Privatization has proved a boon to rich contractors who are also donors to right-wing political parties, both in the United States and Britain. As a result, a small group of contractors and privatised monopolies have profited at the expense of the taxpayer, and have regularly proved to be incompetent. Now we witness another scandal – …
A quarter of people who join a gym put on weight after doing so, almost certainly because they reward themselves with sweet treats or extra large meals afterwards. A survey of 1,000 gym users found that only 25% had lost weight since joining; while 49% said their weight had stayed the same. Around 35% said …
Organisations in the United States such as the Club for Growth and Heritage Foundation are still peddling the idea that the way to get growth in the economy is to reduce taxes on the rich. The latter will, we are told, then invest. Excuse me, but we have now had tax reduction for the rich …
Letter: “I am appalled that your style guide author David Marsh advocates dispensing with elements of grammar that have been sacrosanct among the educated classes for centuries. His disregard for rules on split infinitives, the subjunctive tense or ending a sentence with a preposition made my blood boil. Is the grammar of today’s schoolchildren, already …
An official smartphone app designed to help Azerbaijanis keep track of the presidential election in early October caused embarrassment to President Ilham Aliyev when it released voting figures giving details of his massive victory 24 hours before polling day. In the event, Aliyev extended his family’s decades-long grip on power by winning 84.6% of the …
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