Новости за 02.05.2017

It was the butler. nito

People are often poor eyewitnesses. Psychologists have been demonstrating this in experiments for years, but the justice system in the UK has been slow to catch on. There have been improvements, but lawyers and judges continue to rely regularly on eyewitnesses to convict or exonerate people accused of crimes – in some cases, they might argue they have little option.

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The UK, in common with a number of advanced economies, has had a trade deficit for decades. In simple terms, this means that the country imports more goods and services that it exports. The total trade deficit reached £40 billion by the end of 2016. This is a significant leakage from the economy, and means that British consumers are spending more on stuff from other countries than people from other countries are spending on British goods and services.

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Although disputes over finances are known to be common in South Asian families, relatively little is known about the prevalence and severity of economic abuse of women from these backgrounds.

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Energy, the environment and climate change were barely mentioned during the EU referendum campaign, and Theresa May has since spent little time worrying about how Brexit will change things. One reason for this oversight is that energy and environment policies are often regarded on the international stage as “low politics” – technical and unimportant issues, compared to the wars and conflicts that represent the “high politics” of statecraft.

A shark bit off the rest of me. photographyfirm/Shutterstock

Try a pun or some sarcasm on a toddler and you’re likely to draw a blank stare. Babies can be even harder to impress – ignoring your best clown impressions while laughing at some completely random event. Of course, children aren’t completely humourless. But what do they find funny at different ages and when can we expect them to get things like sarcasm and irony?

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Health, policing and transport dominate the discussion about the future of the newly devolved Greater Manchester. But how will the newly elected mayor influence the town, district and neighbourhood centres that have been left behind as the city centre grew and prospered?

John (Peter Kay) and Kayleigh (Sian Gibson) in BBC One's Car Share. BBC/Goodnight Vienna Productions

This evening sees the final episode of series two of Car Share, the Peter Kay and Sian Gibson BBC One sitcom, which revolves around the developing romantic relationship of the two lead characters as they journey to and from their work at a supermarket.

There is a general perception in the UK that the remaining EU states, and Germany especially, would like to punish Britain for withdrawing from the European Union. This would mean Britain out in the cold, no trade deal, and potentially a fine to make up for lost payments.

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There have have been several observations in the press and on social media in the past few years that some of the mannequins used to sell women’s fashion represent unrealistic and unhealthy body sizes. But until we started to look into it, the issue had not been researched properly, and the evidence was mostly anecdotal.

I was in Zimbabwe when news came through of a clash of motorcades in neighbouring Zambia. One motorcade was carrying the president, Edgar Lungu, and the other the opposition leader, Hakainde Hichilema. It seemed neither would give way to the other. There is little love lost between the two men, and Hichilema still refuses to recognise Lungu’s contentious election victory last year – but even so, no one expected that shortly after the stand off, security forces would storm Hichilema’s home and teargas his family, then arrest him for treason. Читать дальше...

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Sinn Féin is the only party contesting the British general election whose MPs will not take their seats. This policy dates back exactly 100 years to when the party’s first MPs, elected in 1917, decided to abstain from Westminster. It has been the case in every election since. About 18 Sinn Féin candidates will campaign in the June 8 election, only to refuse to take part in debates and votes should they win.

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The science now tells us that diesel vehicles cause more than four times the pollution than petrol cars.

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Shock, horror, a new study shows the British public don’t like their jobs. Using smart phones researchers mapped the happiness of people in real time, while they went about their daily lives. And they discovered that people do not report feeling very happy at work.

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Neuralink – which is “developing ultra high bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers” – is probably a bad idea. If you understand the science behind it, and that’s what you wanted to hear, you can stop reading.

David seducing Bathsheba, Anonymous.

A retiring judge recently faced accusations of victim blaming when she used her final courtroom case as a plea to women to “protect themselves” from rapists by staying sober. Judge Lindsey Kushner restated these views in a television interview on Good Morning Britain, asking, “why shouldn’t you say – be aware ladies?”

The Easter holidays are over – and the long wait for the more generous summer break begins. In just a couple of months, schools will break up, air fares will rise, beaches will be busy and the cost of a family holiday will multiply. So surely it makes sense for parents to be allowed to take their children out of school during term time?