British Isles
2019: potential agriculture labour shortage
21 Dec 2018
Machines can replace human hands in some farming but not when harvesting many types of fruit or vegetables. Growers rely heavily on people for all these jobs in season and out of season. It might be…
Pray for our prodigals
21 Dec 2018
Tens of thousands of people have prodigal family members. The dictionary defines a prodigal as extravagant, a big spender. The word describes the son in the well-known parable: does it also describe the Father, who threw…
Homeless people's deaths up 24%
21 Dec 2018
597 homeless people died in England and Wales in 2017, compared to 482 in 2013. 84% of this figure were men, and over 50% were because of drug poisoning, liver disease caused by alcohol abuse, or…
Drones cause chaos at Gatwick
21 Dec 2018
Gatwick Airport reopened on 21 December, after drones caused it to shut down for 40 hours. Thousands of passengers remain stranded, while police have not yet found the operator, who could be an environmental activist. The…
Important role of cyber security
21 Dec 2018
Unfortunately cybercrime is increasing. We are twenty times more likely to be robbed while at our computer by overseas criminals than in the street. On 18 December a new security operations centre for Belfast was announced.…
Brexit - what might happen?
14 Dec 2018
On 12 December, a majority of Conservative MPs declared their confidence in Theresa May as party leader. The next day she went to Brussels to talk to EU leaders, who have told her that there could…