The BBC ran an article on research conducted by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. The results showed that less than a third of young people express any interest in politics. It found only 31% of 16 to 24-year-olds were fairly or very interested in the subject, compared with …
“By the time the average child is five, its parents have posted 1,500 images of him or her on social media”. (The Daily Telegraph) Why? Who has time to post them and who has time to look at them? I am reminded of the reaction of someone I know of who, not wanting to offend, …
“Peace comes when you have enough money and goods to live in reasonable comfort, and nothing more”. (Michel de Montaigne)
To The Guardian I am outraged that Apple is outraged by its tax bill. Apple has hundreds of stores in Europe to sell its products. The message to Apple is very simple: if any of your stores catch fire, don’t bother to call the fire service. If you are burgled, don’t call the police. If …
“Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is no longer fit for purpose,” says Prem Sikka of The Guardian. Its job is to collect taxes, yet the agency is so starved of resources (its budget in 2015-16 was £3.2bn, down from £4.4bn in 2005) that it can’t carry out its job. Local tax offices have been replaced …
Continue reading ‘Tax collecting in the UK has become a joke’ »
Will Brexit threaten the City of London’s status as a global financial hub? As the smoke clears on the vote to leave the EU, it’s becoming ever clearer that the answer is no, says Dominic Elliott. Sure, the UK’s financial sector may well have to cope with extra regulation, higher costs and greater capital requirements. …
The Guardian recently ran an article by Paul Mason that illustrates how class resentment thrives in Britain. Mason wrote that “brown shoes can ruin a career in investment banking, because they betray a lack of “sheen”, according to a Social Mobility Commission report. “Little wonder” that investment banking “suffers from groupthink on a scale that …
“What is true, and what isn’t? That question is beginning to lose its relevance in American politics For some years now, Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and other members of the conservative infotainment complex have relentlessly poured scorn on everything reported by the “mainstream media”, and thereby successfully “wrecked the idea of objective, knowable fact”. Even …
Yesterday I mentioned free will. One of the regular readers of this blog asked me the other day what I thought about this subject. I am sticking my neck out in the hope that someone will produce some stunning and persuasive reason why I am wrong. And if they do, I will promptly sink into …
“Could you be living inside a simulation created by a more advanced intelligence? Where does your unerring belief that you are not come from? The short answer is you don’t. Consider this: with every passing moment, we get closer to creating intelligent machines, maybe even conscious ones. If we can do this, couldn’t someone – …
In the US – where companies routinely use computer algorithms to whittle down job applicants – 72% of CVs are never seen by human eyes. (The Guardian) There is little more depressing and destructive of self-confidence than job hunting with no contacts and no one to help. When I was young I found myself in …
Scientists in the US have discovered a painkiller that seems to work just as well as morphine – but without its potentially lethal side effects. The chemical compound PZM21, which has so far only been tested on mice, appears to target the same pain-reducing brain receptors as opium-derived painkillers such as morphine, but is more …
Past estimates of the elephant population in Africa ranged from around 400,000 to over 630,000, and there was disagreement about the numbers. The new Great Elephant Census, funded by Paul Allen of Microsoft, estimates that there are just 352,271 elephants in 93 percent of the animals’ range. Much of the decline in the elephant population …
Like the cabinet, the public at large also seems uncertain about the implications of Brexit. The BBC today released a poll showing that, while 62% of people are positive about Britain’s future after the EU referendum, 35% are negative. Some of the other poll findings are more awkward for the Brexiteers. A quarter of Britons …
Continue reading ‘Update on the British public attitude towards Brexit’ »
To The Times “As former vice-chancellor of a Russell Group university, I strongly disagree with a continued and even increased influx of foreign students. You describe our universities as one of “Britain’s most lucrative exports”, but that is not the purpose of our universities, which is to educate our citizens and to pursue research. An …
Continue reading ‘Should we go easy on attracting foreign students?’ »
