Thousands of people around the world joined a global climate change protest yesterday, with pupils walking out of schools and workers downing tools to demand action. The British demonstrators numbered about 100,000. The British Education Secretary Gavin Williamson predictably said “every child” should be in school. “They should be learning, they shouldn’t be bunking off and …
When Cordelia Mellon Scaife was born in 1928 she was the world’s “richest baby”. Her grand-uncle, the industrialist-turned-U.S. treasury secretary Andrew Mellon, spent his lifetime squeezing workers and fighting to cut rich people’s taxes. But Mellon’s impact on American life didn’t end with his 1937 death. His heir Richard Mellon Scaife — Cordelia’s brother — …
Chronic back pain is on the rise – in part because the way we treat it often does more harm than good. It’s time to think differently about our aches. One in four adults are experiencing it right now, and 90 per cent of people having back pain at least once in their life. Nearly a …
Continue reading ‘The back pain epidemic: Why popular treatments are making it worse’ »
Apparently, an increasing number of men want joy, laughter and happiness in a girlfriend – and no drama. They appear to be looking for a partner who never gets angry, afraid or sad, who never worries about her family, money or her job, never complains, and by extension, gives the impression she will be quite …
I owe the readers an apology. I have spent far too much time alluding to politics on this blog, something Epicurus would tut-tut about were he with us and had a computer. I live between the US and the UK, both unhappy places, and have allowed myself ( I like to think for patriotic reasons) …
People with optimistic outlooks tend to live longer than their more negative peers, researchers at Boston University School of Medicine have found. The study drew on data from two long-running studies of Americans aged over 60: one of 1,500 male war veterans, and one of 70,000 female nurses. At the start of both, the participants …
“You don’t need to go to the gym to benefit from exercise: even activities such as walking slowly or washing dishes can significantly boost a person’s longevity, a study has found. Researchers from Norway looked at data on 36,000 people with an average age of 63 whose activity levels were monitored over six years. Any …
In reply to my posting about winning arguments, Carmen, a regular reader ( thank you, Carmen!) makes the following point: “A pre-problem which I’ve experienced before even reaching a “how-to-win-the-argument” mode, is establishing an agreement–stated or implied– to commit to a conversation. People are adept at giving their political viewpoints but at the same time …
Continue reading ‘Try having a conversation about Brexit!’ »
People who struggle with sleep might be at greater risk of developing cardiovascular problems, according to Prof Hugh Markus, of Cambridge University. Those (including the author of this posting) who are genetically predisposed to insomnia have a greater risk of heart failure and coronary heart disease. I think I must have personally tried every drug …
Continue reading ‘Study links sleep deprivation with cardiovascular disease’ »
In 1689 the Act of Settlement decreed that sovereignty lay with the King in Parliament. By the turn of the last century the King had become a figurehead and Parliament reigned supreme. Supreme over the executive as well. More recently the executive has grown in power. Why is that? Because Parliament has allowed it to …
Continue reading ‘The British crisis: MPs discover they have spines’ »
From the Daily Telegraph “These days, all of us are engaged in politics. Fanatically engaged. Furiously engaged. Twenty years ago, when I was in my teens, apathy was all the rage. In the newspapers, practically every political column was about the lack of interest in politics. Anxious MPs thought apathy was a bad thing. They …
Continue reading ‘Apathy: a follow-on from yesterday’s posting’ »
There is a problem with the current physics . We have quantum theory for very small particles, relativity for the big stuff, and the Standard Model, which includes all the weird particles discovered by physicists all over the world. All seem true individually, but relativity and quantum theory contradict one another and the Standard Model …
Continue reading ‘Should CERN build an even more expensive collider?’ »
The following is based partly on an article in the Financial Times: On July 20th Martin Wolf, wrote in the Financial Times: “No one knows what kind of Britain will emerge from the “Brexit earthquake”, but my increasingly clear conviction is that the outcome will be ugly and the damage long-term. “The UK that “the …
The Trump administration last week reauthorised the use of controversial poison-filled traps to kill wild animals, such as coyotes and foxes, that prey on livestock, despite strong opposition from environmentalists. The spring-loaded devices, dubbed “cyanide bombs”, eject a capsule containing sodium cyanide. The Wildlife Services’ use of the traps, which last year killed 6,500 animals, …
On August 10th I did a posting on the effect of suncream on reefs and marine life….. From the New Scientist: In the past five months, the US body that regulates sunscreens as over-the-counter drugs, has declared that 12 active ingredients used in these products might not be safe. Four of these ingredients enter the bloodstream …
