European firms have double standards in foreign dealings

Major European firms are the main culprits of bribery and corruption abroad… Capital has made the world smaller. Businesses from developed countries enter emerging markets to build scale on a daily basis. As a result people are wealthier and economies stronger: China, India, Brazil, Russia, Nigeria and most of Latin America are notable examples. A […]

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Side-effects of private education

Public boarding schools are some of the best schools in Britain, but as a system to grow up in, they cannot be reduced to numbers and tables… Across the country, the fairytale education will soon be coming to an end for thousands of privileged pupils. When this summer eventually dawns, it will represent a seismic […]

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Iraq in pieces, and money down the drain

Billions of dollars have been allocated to rebuild Iraq, but average citizens are seeing little of it in their lives… Malnourished Iraqi children stand outside the highway's toilets looking for alms. Their job is to clean the overflowing toilets on the motorway from the Jordanian border to Baghdad. The actual road is in remarkable condition, accept for […]

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Newroz: The forbidden Kurdish festival

A traditional holiday celebrating the deliverance of the Kurdish people from a mythical tyrant is under threat… It is Newroz festival today. Newroz means 'new day' in Kurdish. They say this 'new day festival' is being celebrated in all Eastern cultures but for Kurdish people it means a lot more than a new day that says […]

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Society’s quest for the fountain of youth

As women are bombarded with images of flawless models masquerading as older women regaining their youth, one woman fears for the effects on her daughter… In this age of beauty and youth-obsessed society, it seems that magazines have found a great marketing tool advertising products that promise to transform average middle-aged women into beautiful super-models […]

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Capital fights cocaine as Kate Moss shops

A London resident questions whether the capital has become a narcotics epicentre against a daily backdrop of violence and drugs raids… Last night I was again woken by police sirens in my neighbourhood as another house in my street was raided for drugs. It will be at least the ninth one since I moved into […]

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