Google cancels all-staff diversity meeting
Google Google has cancelled an all-staff meeting to discuss a controversial memo about diversity written by former engineer James Damore. It is reported that some staff members were concerned about being singled out online if they were identified while they spoke out during the meeting. The firm said it would “find a better way” to […]
What the voice inside your head says about you
BBC/ Getty Images One of Hurlburt’s five categories of inner experiences, sensory awareness, describes processing your thoughts as though they are tactile sensations (Credit: BBC/ Getty Images) We tend to assume that our internal monologue “speaks” in words – but it turns out that, for many of us, it’s much more complicated. What were you […]
what next for ‘The Everything Company’?
Amazon Three decades on from the day it began, it is hard to get your head around the scale of Amazon. Consider its vast warehouse in Dartford, on the outskirts of London. It has millions of stock items, with hundreds of thousands of them bought every day – and it takes two hours from the […]
JG Windows music store in Newcastle ‘closes permanently’
BBC JG Windows music store in Newcastle’s Central Arcade had traded since 1908 A store described as the “cornerstone” of a region’s musical heritage for more than 100 years has “closed permanently”. Directors of JG Windows music store in Newcastle’s Central Arcade said it could no longer compete with online retailers. They said the decision […]
Syria rebels claim to have entered country’s second city
Rebel forces in Syria have taken control of several neighbourhoods in the country’s second-largest city, Aleppo, according to the UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The move is the biggest offensive against the Syrian government in years and the first time rebels fighting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad have reached Aleppo […]
Xi Jinping ‘most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong’
Xi to delegates: Is anyone against me? China’s ruling Communist Party has voted to enshrine Xi Jinping’s name and ideology in its constitution, elevating him to the level of founder Mao Zedong. The unanimous vote to incorporate “Xi Jinping Thought” happened at the end of the Communist Party congress, China’s most important political meeting. Mr […]
Scotland’s Papers: Toilet inventor snubbed
BBC BBC BBC BBC BBC BBC BBC BBC BBC BBC BBC A “desperate” toilet inventor lost his life savings after his hi-tech “pong-free” loo was rejected by patent chiefs, writes The Scottish Sun. The paper reveals how Don Aitchison from Argyll spent £100,000 on the 20-year design project and even remortgaged his home to fund […]
What is the future of religion?
Getty Images Belief in “Big Gods” allowed the formation of societies made up of strangers (Credit: Getty Images) Throughout history, people’s faith and their attachments to religious institutions have transformed, argues Sumit Paul-Choudhury. So what’s next? Before Mohammed, before Jesus, before Buddha, there was Zoroaster. Some 3,500 years ago, in Bronze Age Iran, he had […]
Wiltshire folk exhibition features items never seen by the public
Create Studios Wessex Museums An ancient custom from the village of Great Wishford is explained, with Create Studios making video for the exhibition. Hundreds of objects sit alongside stories in the exhibition which will tour to other places in the area. An exhibition focusing on the folklore, art and customs of the Wessex area is […]
‘We use pawnbrokers to be able to pay for food’
BBC Vicki, pictured with her partner Michael, says she uses a pawnbroker because her only alternative source of credit would be door step lending or loan sharks “Basically so we can buy food and just survive,” says Vicki. The 36-year-old from Chester is explaining how she used the money she got from pawning a games […]