In Britain, surging grocery prices are painful, but not life-threatening. For much of the rest of the world, by contrast, food prices are a matter of life or death. China, the world’s largest wheat producer, is suffering a severe winter drought which looks likely to devastate this year’s harvest. It is setting aside a billion
Home Inflation rose to an annual rate of 4 per cent in January from 3.7 per cent in December, far above the Bank of England’s target of 2 per cent. The rate according to the Retail Prices Index rose to 5.1 per cent from 4.8 per cent. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, defended his idea
The Egyptian people want power in the face of government intransigence. So what happens next? Ancient Rome went through this phase, and very destructive it was. For 50 years, Romans from aristocrats to plebs had broadly agreed that the final say on all major political matters should be the Senate’s (senex, ‘old man’), an oligarchy
Gay marriage The government has proposed to allow gay couples the full rights of marriage. The first country to do this was the Netherlands in 2001, but the world’s first gay ‘wedding’ is often reported as that between 74-year-old Axel Lundahl-Madsen and 67-year-old Eigil Eskildsen in Copenhagen City Hall on 1 October 1989, the day on which
Q. My new boyfriend holds his knife like a pencil. How can I gently correct this without him thinking I am starting to nag too early on in the relationship? My parents will be appalled. — Name withheld, Godalming, Surrey A. You may be unable to break the habit but you can explain its
The army’s example Sir: Ross Clark and Martin Vander Weyer have hit the nail on the head again with their customary precision (‘Councils of Despair’ and Any Other Business, 12 February). The only aspect of ‘best practice’ that seems to have thrived in the public sector is eye-watering levels of remuneration for top management. I
