In their book Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt and Steven J. Dubner draw an important distinction between 'risks that scare' and 'risks that kill'. 'Risks that scare' pertain to those dangers where the 'hazard is low and outrage is high' while 'risks that kill' cover cases where 'the hazard...

There is a recording of George Galloway speaking in the House of Commons in 2007. Galloway is stood in the rows toward the back - a lonely figure. The building is relatively empty - only a smattering of politicians, dotted here and there around the benches. Some of...

Like smoke drifting across no man's land as the sound of the guns and the mortar finally fell quiet, the Christmas truce of 1914 has been shrouded by the mists of time. A historical event which occurred early in the First World War and one many of us are familiar...

Valentine's day is underpinned by one pervasive notion. Not only is it carried by the sudden proliferation of those blushing pink and red cards, it is everywhere else: in papers, books, songs and films. It's the notion that each and every person has their ideal romantic counterpart; that somewhere in...

In a period when politicians gaze ardently into the camera while delivering speeches which have been manufactured by slick, up market PR gurus, it is any wonder that the one thing money can't buy in the corridors of Westminster is a sense of authenticity? In the post-Blairite political climate where...

On 11 April 2002, something extraordinary happened in the Miraflores Palace, seat of political power in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. Following a sudden military mobilisation, the democratically elected president of Venezuela was deposed and taken to an island base where he was placed under armed guard. Meanwhile, in the...

In 2008, when Ken Livingstone was asked to give an estimation of his blonde, floppy-haired rival for the Mayoral candidacy, he said simply - 'Boris is a joke'. The campaign leaflets produced by Labour at the time echoed the sentiment. But, four years on, we realise the joke was on...

In a recent article for the Huffington Post, comedian Chris Dangerfield provides a new spin on an old argument regarding the sex trade. The argument is a familiar one: prostitutes are exploited but hey that's okay - because so are billions of other people. There is, he claims,...

At its inception in 1945, the IMF was disputed by two rival tendencies. The British group, led by the brilliant economist J Maynard Keynes, envisaged an organisation which would act to regulate capital flow world-wide in order to cap national deficits, and so avoid the employment crises and economic collapses...

In modern life the most improbable and abstract things become quantified. A case in point. The organisers and members of Mensa International believe that rooted deep within every individual brain is a number. For Mensa - that number expresses an Intelligence Quota or IQ. The notion of IQ has, in...

In the aftermath of the Norwegian atrocity one question was posed over and over - was Anders Breivik mentally ill? A good few people have claimed that he was. In a way this was inevitable; after all - the event, its sheer depth of horror, provides a stumbling...

On hearing someone describe the recent proposal for stricter monitoring of private internet use as 'fascist', I couldn't help but wince. Nowadays it seems as though the term 'fascist' is banded around willy-nilly - a loose and lazy pejorative to describe whatever irritating or invasive state sponsored legislation...

I am watching Nothing to Declare. It's a programme which follows the activities of the UK border control, and in this episode, a woman who has just arrived on a flight from St Lucia, has been detained on suspicion of drug smuggling. She's black, possibly in her late...

In an article entitled 'Iran through the Optics of Iraq' CEO of BICOM and fellow Huffington Post contributor Lorna Fitzsimons argues the case, somewhat surreptitiously, for military intervention in Iran. She cites several reasons including the following:

"Equally concerning, is that if our Gulf allies think we...

Children's fiction often contains a strange paradox, that is, its themes can be at once both magical and horrific. Consider the wonderful Roald Dahl, whose writing regularly involved children being gobbled up by crocodiles or transfigured by witches. And Dahl is by no means unique: a dark thread runs through...

The mainstream media image, which has emerged from the triangulations of the volatile European financial landscape, seems to promote a clear North South divide. The hotter countries of the south Mediterranean, such as Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal are portrayed as having cultivated a languid and hedonistic lifestyle among their...

Politician David Lammy's remarks about smacking have brought the debate on child discipline more sharply into focus this week. He was, in part, reacting to a directive enacted by New Labour in 2004 which precluded parents from using a level of force that might incur a 'reddening' on the skin...