Do you have a computer on a desk somewhere? Fans whirring, screensaver flickering, left on for days. Would you leave your washing machine running for days? Because over time, a desktop computer draws on…
Smash the system, not traffic lights.
flikr/bobaliciouslondon
A fifth of Britain’s young people are out of work; how long before they snap? The International Labour Organisation has recently issued warnings about possible youth unrest in the future, as young people…
Life’s fine above the poverty line for Mervyn King.
PA/Yui Mok
The outgoing Bank of England governor Mervyn King has presided over a huge economic crisis. His parting gift is the claim “a recovery is in sight” that the UK might achieve economic growth of even 1% this…
Plotting an escape from the naughty step.
Carl Court/PA Archive/Press Association Images
Recent news that David Cameron has been placed on the naughty step by China after his meeting with the Dalai Lama caused much concern in UK business circles. Reports suggested the Chinese sovereign wealth…
Medicine residues that we flush down the toilet can affect fish and other wildlife.
Chris Ison/PA
It’s not a thought that occurs to most of us, but flushing the toilet doesn’t just mean disposing of our bodily waste. We’re also flushing away some of the medicine we take down with it. Our contraceptive…
David Cameron meets nurses during an NHS tour but the government doesn’t want to introduce mandatory staffing levels.
PA
Senior nurses warned this week that the number of patients looked after by nurses has become dangerously high in some hospitals. Quoting research from the University of Southampton, the Safe Staffing Alliance…
The convictions of Asian sex-grooming gangs have thrown social work into the spotlight.
PA/Peter Byrne
The conviction of seven men for rape, child prostitution and trafficking in Oxford on Tuesday brings to an end another horrific case of child sexual exploitation. Social services were again in the firing…
Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station: carbon markets are supposed to be effective, not just hot air.
PA/David Davies
Cameron Hepburn, London School of Economics and Political Science
Just as scientists almost universally agree greenhouse gases contribute to the planet’s changing climate, economists almost universally agree the problem is made worse because polluters don’t pay for the…
Worrying about ageing is a waste of your time.
Faith K Lefever
I want to live longer and help others do the same. I assumed the most effective way to do that is by understanding the science of ageing and then engineering solutions to extend human lifespan. That is…
In our lab we have a phone that rings several times a day. The conversation is always the same. A man from somewhere in the UK is desperate to know the answer to one question: “Am I a Viking?” An answer…
MOOC graduates would throw their laptops in the air instead.
Chris Ison/PA
A napster moment; the end of boring lectures; a tipping point. These are all common responses to the emergence of MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses. Now, simply using a laptop or iPad, hundreds of thousands…
John Van Reenen, London School of Economics and Political Science
The UK labour market has done much better than expected since the start of the recession. Although we are suffering the worst recovery for over a century – national income has shrunk by almost 3% since…
Life’s a gas: Nigel Farage enjoying UKIP’s success in the local council elections.
Chris Radburn/PA Wire
On the surface, the recent surge in support for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) suggests an urgent need to reform Britain’s relations with the European Union. But polls tell a different story. The best…
I’ve seen the future Nick, and it’s behind us.
Stefan Wermuth
Compromise. It’s one of those Jekyll and Hyde verbs. Used actively, it’s a good thing - you want something; I want something different; we talk it over; we come to an arrangement; we compromise. Used passively…
On the noes: more than 100 Tory MPs voted for an amendment to the Queen’s Speech last night in a huge rebuff to the PM on Europe.
PA Wire
When more than 100 Conservative MPs vote for an amendment to their own government’s Queen’s Speech, it is more than a rebellion - it is historically unprecedented. And despite David Cameron’s insistence…