Cover Page, 29 November 2018, Issue 180 Welcome to our new issue. We hope you enjoy our articles and the other features. If you do, we ask that you please forward them to, and recommend us to, any contacts of yours who would be interested. If you can persuade them to register for our weekly
29 November 2018 Lens on the Week UK TOUGH NUMBERS: Maths is back at the centre of the Brexit debate at three levels. The first is the forecasts of how the various options will affect the economy. Treasury figures point to an 8% shrinkage on a no deal exit, with house prices dropping 30% and
29 November 2018 Low Hanging Fruit Digital Services Tax. By John Watson In optics, “focusing” is the process of concentrating light on a particular place, usually by means of a lens. The spot on which the light is focused gets brighter, but of course that is compensated by the darkening of the areas from which
29 November 2018 Thanks, Don Dealing with Trump. By J R Thomas In 1880 William Ewart Gladstone, ambitious shadow cabinet member of the Liberal Party, then in opposition, undertook what has become known as the Midlothian Campaign. Benjamin Disraeli’s Tory government was faltering in its grasp of current affairs, increasingly ridden with internal dissent, pursuing
29 November 2018 Sue the Bastards! Our litigious society. By Lynda Goetz During the interval at the performance of Swan Lake by the English National Ballet in Bristol last night (very good, by the way), four young women were discussing their beauty regimes as we (inevitably) queued in the ‘Ladies’. “I had my eyebrows
29 November 2018 Diary of a Corbynista Political party backs Theresa May! by Don Urquhart 22 November I read in the i that the Minister for Education plans to introduce a “bucket list” of things children should do at primary school. He was inspired by a visit to St Werburgh’s Primary School in Bristol. Number
29 November 2018 Island Strife Trouble with the natives. By Neil Tidmarsh “Safety pins, scissors, a football, a new religion, and a sneezeful of previously unencountered microbes which could wipe out your entire community.” You’ve got all these on your Christmas present list, right? No, I thought not. Me neither. Poor John Chau. No
29 November 2018 Police vs. Policy Keep the blue lamp burning. By Jack Wippell Last Friday, Scotland Yard announced a range of new tactics that were introduced last year and were designed to combat the rise in moped crime. These include, amongst other ideas, ramming suspects to knock them off their bikes, even if they
29 November 2018 I am Africa! Introducing yourself. By Richard Pooley “What do you do?” you are asked by the person you’ve just met. How do you answer? Does it depend on who is asking? Perhaps a person you want to impress… or seduce. Do you take note of how they ask it? Or when?
29 November 2018 It’s Only “Snowflake” Rock ‘n’ Roll But I like it. By Frank O’Nomics Dark ceilings with walls seemingly running with sweat – this was surely back to the gigs of my youth. I was thinking Dr. Feelgood at the De Montfort Hall or Dire Straits at the Leicester Poly. Those 1970’s references
