What the f–k is going on? The Euro Crisis Explained
If you’re like us, it’s sometimes hard to fathom out just what the hell is going on the world, with all the current debt worries. Want to know exactly what’s going on, in more simplistic terms? Read on. Quite what is actually happening over the Eurozone I can’t actually tell you: it’s not that things [...]
St Pauls Occupation – Thank God Ethics is a Messy Business
On Monday night, the banner had gone. There was still the banner saying “This is what democracy looks like”, and the one saying “Corporate greed is a health & safety issue”, and the one saying “Capitalism: it’s crucifying the public purse”. But the banner I’d seen the day before, the one at the foot of [...]
The 147 corporations that really do run the world
As protests against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters’ worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy according to the latest edition of New Scientist. The study’s assumptions have attracted some criticism, but [...]
Welfare Britain
Most Britons support the welfare state but more and more are becoming enraged by the wantonly idle. John Humphreys seeks a solution to Britain’s dependency culture. The writing is spidery, the occasional ink blob suggesting an old steel nib that had seen better days and the grey [...]
How capitalism has changed our lives and why Marx was right
Karl Marx may have been wrong about communism but he was right about much of capitalism, philosopher John Gray writes. As a side-effect of the financial crisis, more and more people are starting to think Karl Marx was right. The great 19th Century German philosopher, economist and revolutionary believed that capitalism was radically unstable. It [...]
The salad slaves of Spain
Salad is good for you, they tell us, but for the people who work in salad greenhouses, things aren’t so good. Guardian Films investigates the salad slaves of Spain. Tweet This Post
Russell Brand on Newsnight
Remarkable entertaining interview with comedian Russell Brand by BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman in which Brand gives a scathing and erudite take on celebrity from inside the bubble. Tweet This Post
Thought For The Day
If happiness had been the human goal we’d still be amoeba. The therapeutic post-Diana world is obsessed with happiness. The thing that drives human beings is, fundamentally, discontent. – David Starkey, historian Tweet This Post
Top Secret America
The top-secret world the US government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work, [...]
Pain Ray weapon tested in Afghanistan
The US’s controversial new weapon the Active Denial System is being tested in Afghanistan Blank Mag can reveal. Dubbed “the Pain Ray” the non-lethal weapon uses microwave energy to cause intense pain but no physical damage. Although not yet being used operationally Defense Department officials today confiemd that wepon was being tested in Afghanistan. How [...]
