Banning the burqa compromises the very principles that we valueViews & Ideas | INDEPENDENT “Have we become so arrogant as to believe that every woman who would wear a burqa is necessarily oppressed? Or so fearful that we see a potential terrorist behind women who cover themselves out of religious belief?' writes Thorbjorn Jagland. |
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Which is worse for you, fat or carbs? Clue: it is not the first.Science | HUFFINGTON POST Dietary fat, whether saturated or not, is not a cause of obesity, heart disease or any other chronic disease of civilization. The problem is the carbs in the diet, their effect on insulin secretion, and thus the hormonal regulation of homeostasis. |
Cheryl Cole should campaign for the use of DDT to combat malariaHealth | GUARDIAN Nets cannot conquer the disease. As demonstrated in many parts of the world, malaria is defeated by economic growth (improves living conditions), insecticides (the falsely maligned DDT eradicated it in Europe, the USA and India) and good healthcare. |
If you're told it looks like you're having a girl, be insultedCulture | L.A. TIMES I'm in my 9th month of pregnancy with my 2nd child, and since this pregnancy became obvious to the world three months ago, I have been confronted at every turn with inappropriate comments about my size, the projected sex of my baby and my appearance. |
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Baby boomers had the best of times and kids inherit harsher worldViews & Ideas | GUARDIAN “We created a far harsher world for our children to grow up in. It was as though we decided that the freedom and lack of worry which we had inherited was too good for our children, and we pulled up the ladder we had climbed.” writes Francis Beckett. |
Equal rights for women? Pew survey of 22 nations says: Yes, but ...The Sexes | NEW YORK TIMES People around the world say they support equal rights for men and women, but many still believe men should get preference to good jobs, higher education or in some cases the right to work outside the home, according to a new survey of 22 nations. |
Radio 5 is already for men - so why do guys need Men's HourViews & Ideas | INDEPENDENT Men are vigorously represented by the media. Sky Sports has been invented for men. Dave is for men. Radio 5 is tonally for men. Male presenters take most of the work and the money. During election coverage, female politicians were sent into purdah. |
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Not satisfied with being the nanny, the state wants a veto on parentinFamilies | DAILY TELEGRAGH In this age of air-bagged, mollycoddled, infantilised over-regulation it can make my spirits soar to discover that out there in the maquis of modern Britain there is still some fighter putting up resistance against the encroachments of the state. |
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The cure for teens putting it about? Self-respectThe Sexes | F BOMB Teen feminist blog, F Bomb, on teen sexting, sex and self-publishing: “Self Respect is a dying art. This thought was solidified when I heard the latest gossip in my school of the sex video going around of a fellow female student with two other guys.”... |
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Insulting words now illegal in French shake-up of domestic violenceNews and Politics | NEW YORK TIMES On Tuesday France criminalised mental violence defined as “repeated acts that could be constituted by words,” including insults or repeated text messages that “degrade one’s quality of life and cause a change to one’s mental or physical state.” |
Women delay motherhood to pursue urban myth of guy who wants to settleThe Sexes | DAILY TELEGRAGH Older women desperate to have a baby are portrayed in the media as fusspots with unreasonably high expectations who won't settle for Mr. OK You'll Do. But think about all the man-children, those twenty- and thirty-somethings who refuse to grow up? |
Pro-lifers cannot be feminists. They don't trust women's decisionsViews & Ideas | THE TIMES Men hung on to political and cultural hegemony for so long because they are not in hock to their biology. Look at a map of the world and the right to abortion on request correlates pretty exactly with the expectation of a life unburdened by misogyny.... |
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7 yr olds can't go 'topless'. Any wonder breasts are hyper-sexualisedFamilies | DAILY TELEGRAGH My 7yr old daughters and 9yr old son love swimming. Their preferred attire is swimming trunks. Imagine my husband's shock when he was told that the girls were inappropriately dressed and they had to cover their top half or leave the local pool! |
Psychologists claim 'best friends' are bad for kids PART 2Families | WASHINGTON EXAMINER Childhood and growing up is learning how to feel pain. Helicopter parenting is bad enough, but when that attitude gets institutionalized we’re in for trouble. Now the expert class is warning that close friendships might damage children’s psyches. |
Dutchman tells family to leave him alone. Found dead 4 yrs laterNews and Politics | GAWKER His family found him in the bed while renovating the house. How, when they decided to do that, did someone not suddenly remember, Holy shit, speaking of the window treatments in Wilhelm's room, have you see Wilhelm in the last, hmm, four years? |
Number of childless women in their 40's risen sharply since '70'sFamilies | WASHINGTON POST 1 in 5 American women in her early 40s is childless, according to a report that shows a striking increase in women who don't have biological children. The trend was much less common in the 1970s, when 1 in 10 women did not have children by 40 to 44. |
D'you know anyone who spends £350 more preening for hols than it costThe Sexes | DAILY MAIL When the cost of clothes and treatments are combined, women spend an average £855 - £350 more than the trip itself. According to fashion experts, women are so pleased to have picked up a bargain trip they feel they can splash out on their wardrobe.... |
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If kids are now a lifestyle choice, does it make sense to have any?Views & Ideas | WALL STREET JOURNAL By historical standards, modern parents get a good deal. Among hunter-gatherers, children consume more calories than they produce, and grandparents produce more than they consume virtually until they die. Agricultural societies are much the same. |
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The descent of women and the end of dignified witCulture | MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE Whatever you think of "Sex and the City 2", one thing is clear: we've come an awful long way, baby, from the dignified wit of the heroines in classic screwball comedies. Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story or Irene Dunne in Together Again? |
Psychologists claim 'best friends' are bad for kidsHealth | NEW YORK TIMES Parents often say their child needs a special friend,. This mind-set has led adults to become more involved in children’s social lives. The days when kids roamed the neighborhood and played with whomever have been replaced by the scheduled play date. |
Why stop at students? Let's make children pay for schoolViews & Ideas | THE INDEPENDENT It's an absolute scandal. Every day, hundreds of thousands are turning up at buildings provided by the state for free lessons in all sorts of subjects. They don't pay a penny. They're a burden on the taxpayer, and I hope the Government take action. |
Nannies bloody furious about over-weaning nanny stateViews & Ideas | THE TIMES Stroppy MPs are angry about the hurdles and effort thrust on them by the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority in order to claim what they think they are due. Welcome to our world, we've put up with bureaucracy and incompetence for years. |
Charles, Prince of Piffle, is why my kids are anti-monarchistsViews & Ideas | SLATE Prince Charles blames Galileo. He blames the scientific world view as an affront to all the world's "sacred traditions." And while he may reign but not rule, he will have the ability to affect the ways in which important matters are discussed. |
Not that into him? Big Pharma says you just have acquired HSDDHealth | THE INDEPENDENT Hotly debated is the idea of the new pink pill, a Viagra for ladies, to overcome premenopausal generalized acquired hypoactive sexual desire disorder, which the US Food and Drug Association (FDA) is scheduled to discuss approving on June 18. |
Bruce's Rear of the Year Award allegedly nukes all claims for equalityThe Sexes | THE INDEPENDENT Women see no particular contradiction between the fact that one middle-aged female BBC presenter can have her bottom photographed, discussed and awarded a national prize while another is accusing the BBC of paying undue regard to the way she looks. |
HPV causes cancer and warts in men. Why not vaccinate them too?Health | FORBES Women don't spontaneously get HPV. It is passed between male and female partners, but men, not having a cervix, do not suffer the same consequences. They do, however, get genital warts and sometimes develop penile, anal, and oral cancers due to HPV. |
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Gender fluidity. Are men still from Mars?The Sexes | HUFFINGTON POST The shifts created by our economic emancipation, the most monumental may be its impact on men -- their values, expectations, and definition of manhood. Men are where women were 20 years ago. Then women were adding career; today, men are adding care. |
Confused? Ah, you must be a mother thenFamilies | THE TIMES Joy and guilt take hold before the morning sickness, and intensify with the birth. And how that guilt is fed, by science and pseudo-science, by the marketers and the media, by advertisers and publishers. Maternal guilt is now a profitable industry. |
Mothers in the workplace: call this choice?Views & Ideas | THE GUARDIAN My brain was craving intellectual stimulation. My husband started coming home to a "mum-on-strike" situation. The house was a state, the children were understimulated and grumpy, and a highly emotional wife was trying to discuss the meaning of life. |
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Should an assault conviction be a reason to deny a UK visa?Views & Ideas | TRUE/SLANT UK immigration officials have put up a roadblock on Chris Brown’s road to commercial redemption, denying him entry into the UK for his current “Fan Appreciation Tour” because of his conviction earlier this year for assault in the Rihanna case. |
I am not grumpy. I am, in fact, being attentive and carefulHealth | BBC An Australian psychology expert who has been studying emotions has found being grumpy makes us think more clearly. In contrast to those annoying happy types, miserable people are better at decision-making and less gullible, his experiments showed. |
Mother tracks down kids on Facebook and destroys their livesFamilies | DAILY TELEGRAGH Florida police arrested the father and charged him with kidnapping and violating child custody orders. Florida's Department of Children and Families, which now cares for the children, stated that there was no immediate prospect of a family reunion. |
On feeling sorry for David Laws and our therapy-cultureCulture | SUNDAY TIMES Therapy-speak and sentimental song lyrics have a lot to answer for: in the real world there is more than one way of “being true to yourself”. The out people in gold lame hot pants aren’t better than the closeted people in suits looking on forlornly. |
Kneejerk reaction by government on mephedroneHealth | NEW SCIENTIST A landmark case that pushed through laws banning the drug mephedrone has come under strong criticism. A toxicology report of the two teenagers thought to have died from the drug showed neither had actually taken it. |
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Ordinary, unpleasant, acts labelled bullying; more children labelled 'News and Politics | THE DAILY MAIL We must stop the anti-bullying bandwagon from muddying the waters. By insisting that bullying is everywhere and that all relationships between children are potentially problematic, it is harder for us to be vigilant about brutality and real threats. |
To end child poverty end adult poverty, not the other way aroundNews and Politics | GUARDIAN Consensus on the shrinking of the state is not complete. There are plenty of people who argue the deficit should not yet be cut because cuts may damage "the recovery", as if raising taxes or continuing to borrow would not damage "the recovery". |
50 questions to cheer you up if you heard Oliver James on Women's HourCulture | FORKPARTY.COM Behold! 50 of the dumbest questions mankind has dared to ask taken from the comedy gold-mine that is Yahoo Answers. It’s a scary thought that these people have internet access (most of the questions are sex and pregnancy related). |
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Did none of this jury have a normal childhood?Views & Ideas | THE INDEPENDENT Not only did the girl say that she hadn't been raped: all they had been doing, was showing each other their willies and fannies. But one of the boys clearly didn't have a clue what sex was all about. Did none of the jury have a normal childhood? |
Unable to distinguish between childhood acts and adulthood criminalityViews & Ideas | SP!KED The case would have collapsed if they had been adults, because the evidence provided by the young girl was so inconsistent...what really counted was not the evidence on offer, but adult prejudices and the imperative of sending the ‘right message’. |
Guys can get post-natal depression too (me too depression)Health | LIVESCIENCE New research, analyzing 43 studies, with 28,004 participants, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that10.4% of new fathers suffer with pre- or post-natal depression, rising to 25.6% at 3 to 6 months after birth. |
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You don't have to like the burqa to defend their right to wear itNews and Politics | DAILY TELEGRAGH A young Muslim woman overhead a female lawyer making comments about her black burka. The lawyer is said to have likened the woman to a TV demon who covers his hideous face with a mask. An argument ensued and the lawyer ripped the woman's veil off. |
Forget Good Housekeeping, get good-wife-bloggingCulture | JEZEBEL The perfect wife wakes in the middle of the night to toss the covers back onto her husband because she wants him to stay warm. She doesn't sit up and wonder why she had to marry someone that thrashes about and snores so loudly” TarynCoxTheWife.com. |
Google Tells Sites for ‘Cougars’ to Go Prowl ElsewhereThe Sexes | NEW YORK TIMES IF you’re a woman who would like to date younger men, you can find lots of articles about these relationships by doing a Google search. But Google has recently deemed ‘cougar’ dating sites are “nonfamily safe,” while ‘sugar’ daddy sites are safe. |
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Is posh Melissa Jacobs just the same as the average WAG?Culture | THE TIMES Are girls who kiss’n’tell or, in Melissa Jacobs case, speak’n’tell, any different from girls who marry men for social standing? All want the lifestyle offered by association with them. Or is Jacobs a new low in which friend is turned over for money? |
David and Ed Miliband - which one will lead Labour?Views & Ideas | THE TIMES Missed Anne McElvoy’s profile? “When David and Ed Miliband were teenagers, their north London household rang to the chatter of some of the most prominent left-wing names of the era: Tony Benn, Tariq Ali, the ANC leader Joe Slovo and Michael Foot.” |
Pregnant driver in crash loses unborn baby, faces 15yrs in jailViews & Ideas | ABC NEWS A pregnant U.S. woman, who fled police when they tried to pull her over for speeding, struck a car, spun into oncoming traffic and was hit by another car, thus killing the fetus, police said. Murder of fetus by vehicle carries a 15 year prison term. |
On marginal differences study claims day-care kids are more impulsiveFamilies | L.A. TIMES The largest and longest-running study of US child-care by the Early Child Care Research Network generates plenty of infuriating conclusions about the effects on kids of early care outside the family – this time about later risky behaviour as teens. |
Does the cult of self-esteem harden our kids to social inequality?Culture | TRUE/SLANT Gen Y doesn’t consider gender, race, culture, class or sexual orientation to be automatic barriers to achievement. However, they also don’t recognize privilege assuming those not on a path to self-determination don’t work hard or want it enough. |
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Could his failure to recycle lead you to the divorce courts?The Sexes | THE GUARDIAN A new survey of 2,005 British adults suggests that "over 60% of British households argue over wasting energy". Leaving lights on caused 40% of energy arguments, followed by electronic appliances left on standby, 28% and heating left on too high, 27%. |
How to rescue the soulmate in your mate after babiesFamilies | THE INDEPENDENT Four particular bad habits emerge: scoring points, returning a perceived criticism with our own; thinking the worst, assuming an underlying negative in partner's action; opting out, disengaging from a discussion or argument; and finally putting down. |
Putting past behind you is a dream. Welcome irony-free ever presentCulture | INDEPENDENT The idea of "in the past" is the past. Impossible to put aside childish things because Google knows where they are; and even if you take them down, the Wayback Machine will cache them for all time. That's that for the past. Want to know the future?... |
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The people have spoken and the financial markets did not implodeNews and Politics | THE GUARDIAN Recently, deficit news has been good; the deficit in 2009/10 net of bank stakes is £155bn, well short of the scary £200bn from Christmas. The recovery is strengthening. Fixing it will be unpleasant, but a majority Commons can do what is necessary. |
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U.S. Doctors Wrong on Female Genital Mutilation Among ImmigrantsViews & Ideas | US NEWS Believe it or not, the American Academy of Pediatrics thinks it's OK for immigrant parents to subject their daughters to a mild form of female genital mutilation. This even though genital mutilation is illegal in the U.S., and for good reason. |
Why are Aussie yoof so keen to sell their virginity?Culture | NEWS.COM.AU In a new low in reality-TV, the debauched deal is the brainchild of a Melbourne film-maker who plans to turn it into a documentary. Justin Sisely has spent more than a year recruiting male and female virgins willing to auction themselves on camera. |
In UK, BNP want to burkha ban, in France, left and right want to.Views & Ideas | ECONOMIST France’s strict form of secularism, which keeps religion out of public institutions, was inspired by the political left, and this legacy informs much Left thinking today. An earlier proposed ban in 2004 on the headscarf, was supported by the Left. |
Is the Food Standards Agency pushing for a ‘Fat Tax'?Health | MARIE CLAIRE If you had to pay 17.5% extra every time you bought cheese, butter or other high-fat foods, would it put you off buying them? Because this could be the future if the Food Standards Agency, who want to introduce a ‘Fat Tax' on junk food, has its way. |
Where we got to a polling booth, voters put Xs in all the right boxesNews and Politics | THE TIMES Some of the justifiably outraged citizens staged a sit-in, police were called and, in the time-honoured phrase, “the mood turned ugly”. Maybe it’s the journalist in me, or the anarchist, but I can’t help it, I get excited when the mood turns ugly. |
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Blairites Revenge. Forcing Gordon out and installing David MilibandNews and Politics | THE GUARDIAN Going into coalition with the Lib Dems was one of the dearest held aims of the right wing of the party. It would be a step of huge historic significance. Once and for all the Labour party could abandon its links with the organised working class. |
Clegg Decapitates Gordon Brown And a Nightmare LoomsNews and Politics | THE SPECTATOR Playing Salome, Clegg has got Gordon's head on a platter and we have the extraordinary sight of the Lib Dems negotiating with both parties at the same time. This is madness and invites the public to view the Lib Dems as a party of political hoors. |
Clegg would find a David Miliband led Labour party very congenialNews and Politics | THE GUARDIAN Lib Dems will wish Brown had agreed to stand down in the hours after the election: by waiting he delayed serious talks with Labour and drove them into the arms of the Tories. Clegg was never likely to agree a deal that kept a defeated PM in office. |
Has feminism given way to lactation rights and the playground?Families | NEW YORK OBSERVER The feminist battleground, with slogans, marches, and campaigns for reproductive rights, has given way to the playground and the fight for lactation rights, stroller rights, charter schools, birthing techniques, nutritional value of bagged lunches. |
Lib-Dems did much better than the scoreboard suggestsNews and Politics | UK POLLING REPORT In 2005 the Lib Dems held 62 seats and were second place in 188. Following the 2010 election the Lib Dems hold 57 seats, but are in second place in 242. In 2005 they were within 10% of the winning party in 31 seats, now they are within 10% in 45. |
US pundits think Clegg would've forced us to use Euro, bidets & FrenchNews and Politics | GAWKER Would they vote for Labour, who ruined the economy and went to Iraq? Tories, who’d have ruined the economy even worse, but wouldn't have sent them to Iraq? Or the Lib Dems, who’d have forced everyone to use the Euro, a bidet and speak French? |
Goldman Sachs think UK electorate deserve any turmoil in marketsNews and Politics | FORBES Goldman said if the "end game is a new election in the autumn, then uncertainty could reign for a significant amount of time. Therefore UK assets are deservedly under pressure and may well succumb to even further pressure as this situation evolves. |
If Cameron is the next PM, he will regret it very quicklyNews and Politics | NEWSWEEK UK's national accounts are in a state of abject crisis. Even by the standards of post-recession Europe, they're scary. The budget deficit stands at £163bn, equivalent to 12% of GDP. That's above the EU average of 7.5% and just 1 point behind Greece. |
Tepid endorsing of minority Tory government sorry result for kingmakerNews and Politics | THE GUARDIAN The Lib Dems have proved to be the political transformation that never was. After all the sound and fury of the leaders' debate and the yellow surge, they're back where they started. Clegg has been cruelly cut down to size by the two-party squeeze. |
Outcome result of a campaigns of intellectual & political timidityNews and Politics | WALL STREET JOURNAL Voters were offered a choice between muddles and chose, fittingly enough, a muddled result.The U.K., however, can't afford muddled governance. Its budget deficit is on course to hit 12% of GDP this year, according to the European Commission. |
Did voters set out to change the government or smash the systemNews and Politics | THE TIMES The voters have turned their backs on Gordon but they haven’t rushed into the arms of the Tories, in the way they did with Labour 13 years ago. Instead they have slunk up to the Tories, like sullen teenagers embarrassed standing next to the parents. |
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What's went wrong for the Lib Dem's yesterdayNews and Politics | NEW STATESMAN The sheer quantity of polling that this election has seen may have been a distorting factor. The introduction of the daily poll may, in fact, have been counter-productive to the aim of giving an accurate picture of national mood or voter intention. |
Lib Dems will not deliver you to the sunny uplands of electoral reformNews and Politics | THE GUARDIAN For those hoping the Lib Dem surge will break the political mould and deliver them to the sunlit uplands of electoral reform, Clegg already risks proving to be a serious disappointment: reform is not a precondition for agreement with the others. |
Cam for PM, Lab for Social Justice, Lib-Dems for electoral reformNews and Politics | THE TIMES The country needs Mr Cameron as PM, a Liberal Democrat inspired reform of the electoral system. And the country needs a Labour Party that can still be the best hope for social justice at home and progress abroad. So who to vote for? |
Forget legacy party loyalties. Vote for the candidate not the partyNews and Politics | THE INDEPENDENT Planning to vote tonight but still don’t know which party to plump for? You can defy the political establishment by either voting Lib Dem come what may. Or you can back the candidate not the party in order to raise the quality of the Commons. |
Skinny jeans are evidence of consent in rape cases?News and Politics | SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Is it possible for a woman who is wearing skinny jeans to be raped? Or are they so tight they can be taken off only with her collaboration and consent? These are some of the questions a jury asked before acquitting a Sydney man of sexual assault. |
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The campaign for PR is a campaign against the multitudeNews and Politics | SP!KED But we have to ask what lies behind the current campaigns for electoral reform when there are many more profound problems than the technicalities of the electoral system itself – primarily the disconnect between the political parties and the public. |
Audit of how taxpayers' pounds are spent should precede a first budgetNews and Politics | THE INDEPENDENT Unfortunately, such exercises are not liked in the corridors of power: they threaten too much upset and challenge too many interests. They are treated as invitations to quibble about definitions and accounting. They may unearth buried skeletons. |
Mark your ballot paper with care then prepare for the worstNews and Politics | DAILY TELEGRAGH It is a shame that Gordon Brown's insult last week distracted attention from what would have been the most significant story of the election: the report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies into the failure of any of the parties to address the deficit. |
Cameron isn’t reactionary throwback, and Clegg vote won’t mean reformNews and Politics | THE GUARDIAN Curiously the nearest to right-left differentiation in the election has been between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, with Labour to the right and Lib Dems to the left. Witness taxation, the euro, Trident, the Iraq war, student fees and immigration. |
Faith schools are familiar idea, but faith sex shops?Culture | THE GUARDIAN El Asira has shown there's obviously a gap in the market for this kind of thing – marital aids for couples of faith. Indeed, this is something that Christians have been aware of for some time now; hence a proliferation of online Christian sex shops. |
Did you know TV shows for under 3's are banned in FranceHealth | TIME MAGAZINE Research published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, finds that kids who got more TV time at preschool age were more likely by age 10 to be disengaged at school, get picked on by classmates, be overweight and eat an unhealthy ... |
Less Audacity of Hope. more Fear and Loathing on the Campaign TrailNews and Politics | THE TIMES They would like us to think that their inspiration is Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope. But in fact, as we prepare to go to the polls, the parties seem to have been more influenced by Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. |
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FT backs Tories after 18 years of backing Labour (WTF)News and Politics | FINANCIAL TIMES They are not a perfect fit, but their instincts are sound. Their fiscal plans suggest they would do most to reduce the size of the state – cutting more and taxing less. They would create the best environment for enterprise and wealth creation. |
Office has rotted Labour, but does it really deserve to die?News and Politics | THE GUARDIAN Labour is a decent party, rotted by office and the complacently top-down, technocratic politics of the past few years. But it does not deserve to die; and this week, with just days to go, it is fighting not for office but for its very life. |
Is this election about the rise of consumer powerNews and Politics | THE TIMES Consumers who are used to a significant level of choice and control in their everyday lives are increasingly demanding it in the political realm, where change has been at best ignored and at worst opposed. Voters want their politicians challenged. |
Boris says Mandy should be next Labour leaderNews and Politics | DAILY TELEGRAGH There is one man whose reputation has been burnished by the disaster of the past few weeks; one man who is still sought after by society hostesses; one man whose every silken Voldemortian utterance is still taken down by the political journalists. |
Scandalous leaders cosy up to mumsnet but sideline women politiciansNews and Politics | THE INDEPENDENT Women politicians are privately appalled by their low profile but don't want to rock the boat during the heat of battle. This was the "Mumsnet election" as politicians queued to take part in their webchats. Cynical piece of short-term box-ticking? |
A lesson in how not to make an ass of yourself. Take note GordoNews and Politics | THE TIMES Boris Johnson really could teach Gordon Brown a thing or two (or 300) about “real” people on the campaign trail. Yesterday, in Ealing, Boris went walkabout amid scenes of unscripted chaos and never, once, did he blame anyone else for anything. |
Want more women in culture and politics? Reject notion we're differentCulture | THE GUARDIAN Where are the women? Over the last few days, we have heard a number of voices wondering where they have all gone. Yesterday morning on the Today programme, Anne McElvoy wondered why it is so hard to imagine another woman becoming prime minister. |
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Is it OK to do sexy nude shots if in the name of a good cause?Culture | DAILY CALLER Celebrities and the not so celebrated, increasingly these days pose nude for good (as opposed to bad) causes whether it be autism, cancer, animals rights, the WI. But, we also get pretty upset about bras for kids, racy pop lyrics. Any connection? |
Organic, local, and slow is no recipe for saving world's hungry millioViews & Ideas | FOREIGN POLICY Influential food writers, advocates, and celebrity restaurant owners are repeating the mantra that "sustainable food" in the future must be organic, local, and slow. But guess what: Rural Africa already has such a system, and it doesn't work. |
Forget green revolution, Iran sees that new opposition has a suntanNews and Politics | DAILY TELEGRAGH Tehran's police chief said a national crackdown on opposition sympathisers would be extended to suntanned women and girls who looked like "walking mannequins". They will be arrested as part of a new drive to enforce the spirit of Islamic dress code. |
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Chocolate may cause depression or it may make you eat chocolateHealth | WALL STREET JOURNAL People who eat more chocolate are more likely to be depressed than people who eat less chocolate. What isn't clear, though, is whether people who are more likely to be depressed ate more chocolate, or whether chocolate itself is linked to depression. |
Restoring your virginity, for him and for yourselfThe Sexes | JEZEBEL There are plenty of pearls of wisdom at "www.revirgination.net," which specializes in the increasingly popular procedure of "hymenoplasty." Another: "You wouldn't want your boyfriend/future husband feel ashamed because your hymen no longer existed." |
Why do women still earn less than men. And its not due to babiesThe Sexes | TIME MAGAZINE But the question remains: Why has it taken so long? Nearly half a century after it became illegal to pay women less on the basis of sex, why do American women earn less than men? The answer depends on whom you ask, and so does the gap’s size. |
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Is Mumsnet just Angry of Tumbridge Wells or a vibrant political voiceViews & Ideas | NEW STATESMAN The strange, disconnected relationship people have with "online" is a challenge for adherents of “e-democracy" and undermines the fashionable theme of the "Mumsnet election". Will Mumsnet make a difference on 6 May? It's a nice idea for the media. |
Is it such a volcanic change that Lib-Com pact more likely than Lib-DeNews and Politics | SUNDAY TELEGRAGH The British electorate would be broadly content with a Cameron-Clegg government, but would take to the streets in protest if the outcome of a hung parliament was Gordon Brown's continued occupancy of Number 10 with the terrible connivance of Clegg. |
Scientists ask if Nick Clegg can keep it upHealth | NEW SCIENTIST Last week, Clegg's overall linguistic style was characterised by verbal markers of honesty, consistent with previous research on differences between truthful and deceptive language. Linguistic honesty is associated with higher use of I-words. |
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9 out 10 fund managers don't care who wins. Big cuts will happenNews and Politics | THE GUARDIAN At the moment, out of every four pounds the government spends, one is borrowed. In those circumstances the most powerful forces in the world of UK domestic policy are not our politicians, but the international bond markets, who are lending us afloat. |
Did Tory complacency create their unlikely Lib Dem nemesisNews and Politics | THE OBSERVER It says much about the tastes of Conservative politicians that, at the suggestion of Oliver Letwin, they have taken to comparing the struggle for power in Britain to the fight for control of Middle Earth. Last week, Tory England turned its blazing eyes on... |
Should a child's views be heard in the family courts?Life | DAILY TELEGRAGH It sounds mad to take a young child’s view into account. “I am violently opposed to it,” says Lady Meyer, whose two sons were abducted by her husband in 1994; a trauma which caused her to start the charity Parents and Abducted Children Together. |
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Vote Cameron if you want your kiddies to be fiddled with says The IndyNews and Politics | THE INDEPENDENT In the queue to disagree, Clegg was rarely second – and he showed no sign of deferring to either opponent. He was prepared to go below the belt, pointing out that Tory MEPs had voted against a joint police operation to arrest continental paedophiles. |
Suspicious society has left teachers open to false abuse allegationsCulture | FRANK FUREDI There is something deeply disturbing about the predictable manner with which a childish and malicious accusation can destroy a reputation, career and life. Liverpool Crown Court found teacher Hannah McIntyre innocent of sexual activity with a child. |
Are 'Get Clegg' dirty tricks backfiring?News and Politics | THE GUARDIAN An ad for the Independent reading "Rupert Murdoch won't decide this election, you will" so inflamed News International that James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, allegedly stormed round to the Independent to give Simon Kelner, a piece of their minds. |
Britain's election debate is rewriting the political rulesNews and Politics | FINANCIAL TIMES The shifts in voter opinion during the opening stages of the campaign have been as big as any seen since pollsters started counting. If things stay roughly as they are, the third party Liberal Democrats are heading for their best result since 1923. |
Cameron hiding real agenda because he knows public will loathe itNews and Politics | THE INDEPENDENT 85 per cent of us say the gap between rich and poor should be "much smaller", a majority would get there by introducing a maximum wage that caps the incomes of the rich at £135,000 a year. 58 per cent support a dramatic increase in the minimum wage. |
Clegg is the break from stale two-party politics that many craveNews and Politics | THE TIMES What happened after the first debate was not what the newspapers or broadcasters expected, and constituted a mini-Diana moment, when the public, like a wayward toddler, opened the garden gate and escaped from us. The pack were chasing the response. |
Pointlessness of children's play, an evolutionary paradox, explainedScience | THE ATLANTIC Human brains are so large that were they to reach full size in utero, women’s bodies would unable to deliver them. The human brain more than doubles in volume during the first 12 postnatal months, and nearly doubles again over the next 12 months. |
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Politics as talent show does nothing for informed debateNews and Politics | FINANCIAL TIMES When almost as many people watched the leaders’ debate as viewed Britain’s Got Talent and with Nick “Susan Boyle” Clegg taking the stage by storm, media types were excited. At last the race had started. Perhaps now the Great Ignored would be engaged. |
Survival of very premature babies has failed to improveHealth | THE INDEPENDENT The survival of very premature babies has not improved in the past 15 years despite more intensive treatment. Although survival rates at 24 and 25 weeks' gestation have increased, rates for those at 22 and 23 weeks have not changed, experts said. |
Trenchant, hectoring parenting gurus should be naughty-steppedFamilies | THE GUARDIAN Nobody enjoys hearing their baby cry. Often, they try a routine as a last resort, because the baby cries all the time, or they need some sleep, or they have more than one and a different child is crying. Sometimes they try a routine once in ... |
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Brain Training Exercises Don't Improve CognitionHealth | TIME MAGAZINE You've probably heard it before: the brain is a muscle that can be strengthened. But in the largest study of brain games to date, researchers found that healthy adults who undertake computer-based "brain-training" don’t improve their mental fitness. |
So who fakes orgasm? People in loveThe Sexes | JEZEBEL Younger men and women close to age 30 are less likely to fake, educated people are more likely, men and women fake less if they think their partner can tell (not surprising), and that they fake more when they're in love (a little more surprising).... |
Ignore Lady GaGa, celibacy can be hazardous to healthLife | GAWKER Celibacy is a fantasy, too. Yes, it will keep everyone safe from STDs, unwanted pregnancy, and (possibly) heartbreak, but it's solitary shelter will just cause more messiness later on. Just when are these people going to learn the important lessons. |
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Disney bans fairies, woman told to dress like a grown-upStyle | DAILY MAIL When Natasha Narula treated daughter Drew to a holiday at Disneyland Paris, she thought it would be fun to dress up as princesses for the day. She bought a wedding dress from Oxfam and kitted 8-year-old Drew out in a bridesmaid dress and a tiara. |
Paper Dolls: literature's best dressedCulture | MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE I’m not talking about novelists, who don’t leave the house enough to need an extensive wardrobe, but their characters. Literature has its sartorially lazy but others understand that they are not just the set designer, but also the costume department.... |
Another 'study' to show that working from home makes me a crap mumFamilies | USA TODAY Our lives were supposed to be more flexible and family-friendly thanks to the technology. But in this age of BlackBerrys and recession pressures and working from home after hours and on weekends, family time may not be working out the way we thought. |
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Toynbee: Brown could come third and still sail into Downing StreetNews and Politics | THE GUARDIAN David Cameron is dead right when he warned yesterday: "Vote Clegg, get Brown." Gordon Brown could come third and still emerge with the most seats, as unelected as ever he was. But this time voters would be in a state of revolutionary outrage. |
Should a single mum be able to give away baby if the dad wants it?Families | WASHINGTON POST Baby Emma was born in Northern Virginia in 2009 to young, unwed parents. He wanted to keep the baby. The mother said they would make a decision together, but she cut him off just before delivering the baby and has agreed to place Emma for adoption. |
Are you really less happy today than your grandmother was in the 60's?Life | THE TIMES Love, honour and duty used to be far more important than happiness. Adults didn’t strive to be happy, authors weren’t interested in the contented, parents didn’t try to make their children laugh. Happiness was a luxury, but now it’s a necessity. |
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