Opiod deaths passed the 30,000 mark in the US in 2015, an increase of nearly 5000 deaths from 2014. Deaths from drugs like fentanyl rose by 75% from 2014 to 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and for the first time there were more deaths from heroin than from the traditional …
Continue reading ‘Heroin deaths surpass gun homicides for the first time’ »
The Oxford English Dictionary picks a word of the year every year. This year it has chosen “post- truth”, defined as an adjective “relating to or denoting circumstances in which the objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to the emotions and personal beliefs”. This obviously relates to Brexit and the …
A recent surrvey by Action for Rail in the UK found that a commute into London by rail costs an average of 13 % of average monthly pay. Travelling the same distance into Rome costs only 2% of an Italian salary. Even in costly Paris a commute is 30% less than the equivalent British cost. …
“To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child . For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history? “(Cicero, Orator, 46 BC)
Having a bad night’s sleep leads people to consume, on average, an extra 385 calories – equivalent to about four slices of bread – the following day, scientists at King’s College London have discovered. The study, a re-analysis of previous research into the effects of poor sleep, defined a bad night as one with less …
Glen’s Garden Market is an upscale grocery shop in Washington, paying above the minimum wage in DC. Then DC put the minimum wage up from $8.25 to $11.50 an hour, the rate Glen’s were already paying entry-level workers (the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour). So owner Danielle Vogel boosted hourly wages another dollar, …
In 2013, Trump signed a 60-year lease for the the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office, and began a $200 million renovation to turn it into an upscale hotel, called the Trump International Hotel, with the help of loans from Deutsche Bank, a large German bank. Trump’s financial disclosure reports, show he currently owes Deutsche …
Continue reading ‘Conflicts of interest are not esoteric matters’ »
“In Britain there is a sharp rise in self- employed workers, whose ranks are swelling while their incomes are shrinking. They account for more than one in seven of the workforce, but earn less on average than they did in 1995. It cannot be right that an ever-larger slice of the labour market lives without …
I find it extraordinary that Americans pride themselves on “free speech” when what they should be priding themselves on is “free, responsible speech”. Free speech, as we experience it, is not free at all – it has costs, costs in terms of people’s reputations, peace of mind, self-image and even security. What may have been …
“Researchers Hal Hershfield and Cassie Mogilner surveyed more than 4,000 Americans to determine whether they valued time or money more, and how happy they were. A clear majority, 64%, preferred money, but those who valued time were happier. Nor was it only the those rich enough to not stress about money who preferred time; after …
According to figures published in August, there are 2.23 million EU nationals working in the UK – an increase of 238,000 on the same period in 2015. An estimated 850,000 Poles live in the UK. In the part of London I know best it is quite rare to encounter British-born people working in shops, restaurants, …
To The Guardian A wise man has said that there are only two kinds of people who believe that the growth of anything can continue forever on a finite planet: idiots and economists. It was presumably one of the latter who wrote the sub-heading, “Birthrate fall is a threat to economic prosperity”. Even if GDP …
Globally, 1 in 9 adults have diabetes, and by 2030 it will be the seventh leading cause of death, according to the World Health Organization. However, the Washington Post reported on November 23rd that, although sodas, like Coca Cola, are known to be bad your health because of the danger of diabetes, it is the …
Continue reading ‘Reassuring news for the day. We need it.’ »
Walmart is one ne of the most profitable corporations in the world, current profitability $132 billion. It is privately owned by one of the richest families in the world. But if you need to miss a day of work owing to illness, even if you have a doctor’s note, you may find your Walmart …
Ten years ago, in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine in March 2005, Pan Yue, China’s eloquent, young vice-minister of China’s State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) told the magazine, “the Chinese miracle will end soon because the environment can no longer keep pace.” Pan Yue added: “We are using too many raw materials to sustain …
Continue reading ‘A different perspective …. China in serious problems’ »
