Sick Man of Europe? We’ve said it here before (LSS 10 2 25, 21 12 21):declining health statistics are one of the surest indicators of a society in long term decay. Now this study reported by the Guardian gives further cause to our suspicion that poor old Britain may be heading the way of the poor old USSR.
People in UK spend fewer years in good health than a decade ago, study finds | Health | The Guardian 1
Can your brain get full? It’s a question that has vexed many of us who cannot find their car keys or remember the birthdays of friends and families but seem to recall the lyrics of Living thing by ELO with ease. This article from The Conversation explains how this embarrassing state of affairs may come about:
Squids in Riffing on the above, prepare your brain for a totally new piece of information: apparently the Cretaceous seas were home to a population of hitherto unknown octopuses of terrifying size, easily able to wolf down one of the whale like mosasaurs which had been labelled apex predator of these long-ago seas.
‘Kraken-like’ giant octopuses 100m years ago crunched bones of prey | Palaeontology | The Guardian absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
Sovereignty v Sovereign Wealth Funds The title which Larry Elliott gives his article: Why is Britain’s economy so stuck? It’s the tension between what voters want and what the bond markets allow is an almost perfect summary of our theme that as a going concern, the Nation State now seems to be in deep trouble. For those who say we are being hopelessly Anglocentric, we think the UK makes a pretty good model for about 50 other small to medium-sized nations, so everyone can learn from it.
Quote of the week: “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” Hamlet Act 1 Scene 3
#paleontology #economics #britain #neurology #health #epidemiology
Learning, Science and Society 