Новости за 29.06.2015

“Chaos” is the usual word ascribed to the prospect of Greece leaving the Eurozone and instituting a national currency once more, which, for the sake of this argument, we may call the “new drachma”.

Effective action to prevent further attacks by Isis-inspired gunmen requires a recognition of the failure of the policy of containment of Isis pursued over the last year by the US, Britain and their allies. Isis is getting stronger not weaker. In the aftermath of an atrocity like Sousse, it would be naïve to expect David Cameron to admit to this failure and to recommend new and more effective policies.

I am a victim of rape. I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone that before. But that’s probably because I never thought of myself as a victim. Until now. The crime happened years ago in my early twenties when, after a drunken night out, I ended up in bed with a man and we had sex.

David Cameron is in a rare position as a Prime Minister responding to a terrorist attack. He is liberated from political calculation. He will not fight another election. He no longer has to negotiate with another party in a coalition. He did not lead the UK into a calamitous war and does not need to justify the mistake. He is free to be sensible, if he chooses to be so.

Like many British people at this present time, with regard to the events in Sousse, I am a mixture of heartbroken and fixated. As the photographs have begun to trickle out of other people’s mothers – hardy, matriarchal types, murdered in swimsuits on sunloungers in the midday sun – I’ve succumbed to the urge to call my own mother simply to hear her voice.

Recent research showed that 58% of separated parents don’t believe in the idea of a ‘good separation’.

Millions celebrated the news that gay marriage is now legal in all states under the US Constitution by giving their profile pictures a rainbow hue this week, and good on them. The change is fantastic news, a landmark decision and it's great to see people coming together to share their pride.

If Wimbledon has inspired you to take to the court, we've found the kit to make you play like Andy Murray

The shocking attack last week at a peaceful Tunisian tourist resort has shown us once again that terror continues to be a threat. There is no question that the group behind this attack, which refers to itself as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) or as “Islamic State” is an evil terror organisation. But I believe that for too long we have allowed them to define themselves as something which they are not, and now we need to change how we label them. This is why I have started a campaign to get the government... Читать дальше...

If you just paid the minimum amount off a credit card balance of £2,000, how long do you think it would take to clear the debt? It may surprise you – and don’t worry if you don’t know the answer, only one in a hundred people does.

The actor insists his claims in 2013 that oral sex would cause - and cure - throat cancer were taken out of context

The UK is one of only 19 countries in the world that still recruits 16-year-olds into its armed forces. The others include North Korea and Iran. What's more, British teenagers – otherwise deemed too young to drive a car, drink alcohol or marry – are twice as likely to be killed as personnel recruited over the age of 18. Mental illness is also more prevalent in these recruits, with a suicide rate 82 per cent higher than civilians of the same age.

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 of his accident.

1. The latest figures from the independent Office for National Statistics suggest no change in the inequality of income after taxes and benefits. The graph above shows the Gini coefficient – the higher the number the more unequal the distribution – from 1977 to 2014.

Most of us would be more amused than embarrassed these days to discover that we had a great-uncle in Victorian England with a criminal record as long as your arm. There was a time when having a black sheep was a source of deep shame; families with criminal or humble pasts changed their names and paid genealogists to doctor the family trees in order to conceal such unwanted facts. If possible, they would claim a spurious link to the gentry or some long-ago member of the Royal Family.

The summer holiday, preferably two weeks long and spent in a hot, southern climate, is such a long-standing fixture on most people’s calendars that is hard to get one’s head around the idea that we have to start forgoing the privilege. But, after the latest killings in Tunisia, many will be eyeing the map of potential destinations with a fresh, concerned eye. Following so soon after the murder of 22 tourists at the Bardo Museum in Tunisia in March, simply saying that we should carry on as normal... Читать дальше...

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” burbled Shakespeare’s Polonius. Few of us take that advice. But it’s worth asking: why? Why do we borrow? To pay for something that we can’t afford today is the obvious answer. And we can all intuitively grasp why that can sometimes be unwise. Borrowing from Wonga at a 1,500 per cent annual interest rate to indulge a taste for Michelin star meals and breaks in the Maldives is clearly not sensible.