Новости за 22.06.2015

When viewed through the specious prism of social media, the world can seem to have harnessed technology primarily either for frivolity, or for war. So the award of the 2015 Design of the Year to Emulate Inc for its Organs-on-Chips is a reminder that technological advances also enable very clever people to push boundaries in ways beneficial to us all.

At last, Greek leaders are behaving like grown-ups. It was an exasperated Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, who complained about the lack of “adults in the room” when yet another round of talks fell at the first hurdle last week.

It is hard to say just when the gay-marriage train really started to roll in the United States, a country that still has conservative instincts on many social issues and where faith and God remain louder forces than in Europe. Massachusetts set the template, becoming the first state of the union to allow same-sex marriage 11 years ago. It was three years ago last month when President Barack Obama finally offered his support.

For most of my adult life, virtually no one – not even my closest friends – knew that I played the piano. And that was how I wanted it. Playing the piano had once defined me, but so, too, had my stage fright. I was the kind of pianist who played well when there was nothing at stake: in my parents' house, at my lesson, behind closed doors. But put me in front of an audience and my hands would ice over while my palms and fingers would be soaked with sweat. When I quit at 19, my parents protested that I was giving up the best part of myself. Читать дальше...

In answer to Saturday’s editorial on the Liberal Democrat leadership election, I had the privilege to hear both Tim Farron and Norman Lamb speak at the leadership hustings in Leeds. I went fearing I would be disappointed, but how wrong I was. The party needs both men in order to move forward.

Who is accountable to whom? The question is pivotal to the running of any organisation. And an organisation is in trouble whenever the answer is: “Well, it’s all a bit complicated.” That is currently the answer in relation to some of the UK’s publicly funded institutions. More immediately worrying, it is also the answer in relation to the entire eurozone.

Where was the most special place to be in England on Midsummer’s Day, 21 June? For me it wasn’t Stonehenge, even though more than 20,000 people gathered there on Sunday to celebrate the summer solstice, and the longest day of the year. After my own weekend, I have no doubt: it was a hay meadow.

Sometimes, life just throws up incredible surprises. A newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch is carrying extracts from a book that criticises the BBC for its liberal bias. Well, who’d have thought it? We are only a few weeks into a new government, and already the forces of Conservatism (with a capital “C”) are ranged against the corporation, cheered on by media organisations who have a commercial interest in the Beeb getting a bloody nose.

Just last month 1.9m animals were slaughtered in a barbaric practice that has existed for hundreds of years.

Porn used to be restricted to the top shelves of newsagents and back street sex shops, but these days it’s available at the click of a button.  Large numbers of people watch porn either together or individually, with one of the UK’s biggest porn sites receiving 111 million visits in the 12 months up to January 2014.  Some people will have used porn for a long time, while others may be just starting to experiment.

When the 2015 Serpentine Gallery pavilion was unveiled in London hyperbole beckoned. How, exactly, can the semi-opaque structure designed by the Spanish architects, Jose Selgas and Lucia Cano, aka Selgas Cano, be described? Riot of colour? Plastic fantastic? Surreal shimmer? Too glib.

Involuntary leakage of urine or stool is often poorly addressed and managed, despite the impact on self-esteem and quality of life. But "urgency" cards can be provided, which are a less embarrassing way of signaling you need to use facilities if out and about

These are the creams, sprays and mousses you need to get a sunkissed complexion, whatever the weather

Last year, Rebecca’s husband, Nick, was hit by a car and seriously injured. Here, in one of a series of columns,  she writes about the aftermath.

They gloat and smirk, do not give a damn about those they are deliberately and pitilessly reducing to sub-human status. Well, why would they? The nasty party won a majority, has the mandate to slash and burn the welfare budget. Yesterday, George Osborne and Iain Duncan Smith penned a joint declaration: benefits would be cut by a further £12bn, starting this July.

1. Great photo of Hyde Park Corner, 1935. Via Rob Baker.

Afew days ago I was sitting in Athens with an official from Médecins Sans Frontières discussing the migration crisis confronting Europe. She was showing me maps filled with swirling red arrows, denoting the most common and current routes across the Mediterranean. The tide of human flotsam washed up over the Greek islands sprinkled close to the borders with Turkey, then flowed through the shattered country towards safety and sanctuary in more prosperous places.