Tag: BBC

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David Bowie’s androgynous legacy

The new David Bowie exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum was already a hot ticket even before the show opens to the public this weekend. “David Bowie is” shows how, in the 1970s, David Bowie’s passport to fame was his daringly ambiguous gender presentation. But in a piece on today’s BBC asks, did appearances deceive?imgres-2

“These days Dylan Jones is editor of British GQ magazine and very accustomed to living the high-life. But in July 1972 he was an ordinary 12-year-old living with his parents in an ordinary part of Kent. Then one evening, his life changed.”I can picture the exact moment: my father was away and my mother was out in the garden,” he says. “So I was alone in a terrace house in Deal watching Top of the Pops.”Normally it would have been a forgettable Thursday but I was about to be astounded. It was the first time we were exposed to Ziggy Stardust in all his androgynous glory. Continue reading “David Bowie’s androgynous legacy”

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Men to live as long as women

The gap between male and female life expectancy is closing and men could catch up by 2030, according to an adviser for the Office for National Statistics.imgres

“Prof Les Mayhew said the difference between the sexes peaked at nearly six years in the 1970s. Life expectancy is going up all round, but the rates for men are increasing faster.

“Plummeting smoking rates in men are thought to explain a lot of the change. Prof Mayhew, a professor of statistics at Cass Business School, analysed life expectancy data in England and Wales. He was working out how long 30-year-olds could expect to live. Continue reading “Men to live as long as women”

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Watch for the apple iwatch

imgres-1People wonder whether Apple can continue its innovation winning streak in the post-Steve Jobs era, and certainly the stock market is losing patience waiting to find out with Apple shares at about 50% what the once were.

Now news is beginning to leak out of a kind of watch-like thingy in the works, as described by the BBC today:

“Fresh evidence that Apple has been working on a smart watch concept since at least 2011 has emerged in a patent filing.The document describes a flexible touchscreen display which would communicate with a smartphone or other electronic device. Continue reading “Watch for the apple iwatch”

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Raising drinking costs saves lives

imgres-3Research published in Canada has linked the introduction of minimum pricing with a significant drop in alcohol-related deaths.

The findings, in the journal Addiction, were welcomed by health campaigners but they have been criticised as “misleading and inaccurate” by the drinks industry, which has questioned the statistical basis of the research, reports the BBC today

“The Scottish government’s plans to introduce a minimum unit price are on hold pending a court challenge. The researchers said a rise in alcohol prices of 10% had led to a 32% reduction in alcohol-related deaths. The Canadian study was carried out between 2002 and 2009 in British Columbia, where alcohol could only be sold directly to the public in government-owned stores. It suggests that, when drink prices rose, there were “immediate, substantial and significant reductions” in deaths wholly attributable to alcohol abuse. The authors suggest increasing the price of cheaper drinks reduces the consumption of heavier drinkers who prefer them.

“Dr Tim Stockwell, director of the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of British Columbia, said: ‘This study adds to the scientific evidence that, despite popular opinion to the contrary, even the heaviest drinkers reduce their consumption when minimum alcohol prices increase. “It is hard otherwise to explain the significant changes in alcohol-related deaths observed in British Columbia.’ During the period under study, the law changed in Canada, permitting private liquor stores to open. A 10% growth in the number of such outlets was associated with an increase (2%) in all alcohol-related deaths. This is the first study to highlight the effects on mortality of alcohol minimum pricing, although the Scottish government has used previous research from the University of Sheffield to claim consumption of alcohol would be reduced if prices rose.”

 

Full story at BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-21358995

 

 

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Now Benedict hates capitalism

We don’t think 2102 was the best year for Pope Benedict, what with his relentless rants against marriage equality and his silly foray onto Twitter. For a guy supposed to have a direct line to God, the Pope seems to be a bit out-of-touch.

But wait. What was that recent thing he said? Yes, according to reports today from the BBC, Benedict has come out against the profiteers and selfish-individualists.imgres

“Pope Benedict XVI has condemned ‘unregulated capitalism’ for contributing to world tension, in a new year address to worshippers.”

Hang on, there is more: The Pope also decried ‘the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated financial capitalism’, as well as ‘various forms of terrorism and crime.’

“The Roman Catholic Church leader spoke at a Mass in the Vatican, then greeted a crowd outside St Peter’s Basilica.  He deplored ‘hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor’. Continue reading “Now Benedict hates capitalism”

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World opinion on U.S. presidential election

Outside the United States, people favor Obama by a five-to-one margin in the upcoming American presidential election. A  BBC World Service opinion poll has found sharply higher overseas approval ratings for US President Barack Obama than Republican challenger Mitt Romney.An average of 50% favored Mr Obama, with 9% for Mr Romney, in the survey of 21,797 people in 21 countries.Only Pakistan’s respondents said they would prefer to see Mr Romney win November’s election. France was the most strongly pro-Obama (72%). The survey was conducted by GlobeScan/PIPA between 3 July and 3 September.