Pensions. We will all live in penury - Will Huttton - here.

03/01/2012 - more on pensions - here.

HMRC handles big companies with kid-gloves. Here. Let's see how this one plays out . They can't both be right.

2012. What a year. Here.

'Disadvantaged' children do not study history. Here.

I am distraught. Kin Jon-Ill has died. Here. Lying in state here & here.

Life in North Koreas - film - here. More - here.

Christopher Hitchins dies. Here.

Today the USA troops leave Iraq after almost nine years. A former official at the Pentagon and chairman of the Defence Policy Board, Richard Perle, an author of the invasion talks here. I find his arguments unconvincing - yes, we made some mistakes but we are not to blame. These are precisely the sort of (massive) mistakes people like that are paid not to make - else give the job to a random eighteen year old with good intentions.

2977 victims died on 9/11. Why add to that tally all the thousands more who died as a result of this war?

Brains continue to develop until early twenties - here - which should influence the definition of 'age of responsibility'. The author of the report (Nicholas Mackintosh - Cambridge) here. I like his debating style.

Two decades to the day, after the Maastricht Treaty, a turning point in Britain's relation to Europe. It, like 'Black Wednesday' or Lehman's collapse, becomes one of those iconic reference points which we return to so often in order to understand 'how we got here'.

This is what happened.

Lord David Owen (his blog is here) ( a veteran European commentator) reacts here.

A Eurosceptic MP reacts here.

David Miliband, on Twitter, says:  'UK jumped into rowing boat with Hungary next to 25 nation supertanker. That is weakness not strength'.  And the truth, is, that, not even Hungary joins Britain in this boat.

There is a lot of water to run past the ruins of the bridge Cameron has just destroyed.

Text of new, European accord here.

De we 'genuinely' appreciate 'authentic' art or do we enjoy it because we know what it is? Martin Kemp (emeritus of Oxford) suggests we enjoy what we are told to enjoy. Article here & interview here.

Ed Balls and his take on the autumn budget statement - here. The question is, does he have an alternative that is based on economic fundamentals? The answer seems to be no. His answer is mostly politics - very little economics.

A Russian spy and honey-trap in the news here. Here for more, interviews with defendant and link to judgement. On Panorama here. Independent - here.

How similar is this (Ms) 'Katia' (Zatuliveter)  to A N Miller's 'Katya'  in 'Snowdrops'?

Stalin's daughter dies.- Here

Regions (UK) and how they work in relation to their financial centre (London) - here

The Jews of Baghdad - here.

Does middle-age exist as a clearly distinctive period of life? If yes what is it? David Bainbridge gives his answer here.

What to be - an aid-worker or banker?

Banker, is more ethical choice. Listen here.

And their website http://eightythousand.org.

Europe's debt crisis (from The Economist) here.

Governement Debt dynamics (from The Economist) here.

Report from Afganistan here.

Lower pitch voices work better when the speaker wants to persuade - here.

There are 7 billion people in the world. What number are you? Find out using this calculator on the BBC.

... 'Solyndra', a well-connected solar panel maker, declares bankruptcy a mere two years after receiving over a half billion dollars in low-interest loans.

Disgusting. This is a lot of money. Should governments be giving loans to companies that wouldn't get them from commercial lenders?

Obama's 'American's Jobs Act' - the official list of policies proposed by the bill - here (from The White House).

Here's a spokesman from the National Trust, discussing the government's changes to the planning system. The two positions seem to be diametrically opposed. How can they both be right?  How does one explain the vast gap  between two bodies, each of whom having (I assume) a mature approach, to balancing the need for housing and economic growth on the one hand and environmental concerns on the other?

UPDATE: The next day a response here. Not very articulate, but this lawyer is clearly irritated by  the National Trust's interpretation of these proposals.

'In Business', by Peter Day is always good.

This episode, in which we hear the views of Nobel Prize winning economists on the ongoing economic crises, is fantastic.

'Inuit culture being eroded by consumerism' - Stephen Pax Leonard  here. But that's the 'culture' these kids are choosing - who are we to tell them that an 'orally transmitted' story is better than a Hollywood film. Not all Hollywood films are without merit, and (I'm pretty certain), not every Inuit story is without fault.

use intellectual language -here

Keynes v Hayek - here

Murdoch - the twenty fifth member of the cabinet -here

UK is good at science & science is exiting. Here.

Who is responsible for looking after all this stuff?

Ministry of Defence (MoD) faces embarrassment as it emerges it has lost assets worth over £6 billion - here.

Annual, US military's air-conditioning bill, in Iraq and Afghanistan circa $20bn: about a third of the entire UK defence budget. Here.

whiplash is

... a rather nebulous disorder... here; and the related 'ambulance-chasers' charade - here & here.

Royal wedding sickbag. What a fantastic idea from Lydia Leith. Read about it here. Get a couple from here. Will definitely need them. One to use on the day. The second to keep as a souvenir.

Gadaffi seems bonkers.

• here
• here
• here
• here

But how does a nutter retain power for over forty years? A Libyan expert explains here. Frank Gardner of the BBC has written this. A good article from the BBC exploring the influence of tribal loyalties in Libya here.

The Economist's report, here, is far more graphic than the BBC's. And from here a link to Saif Gadaffi's doctoral dissertation titled 'The Role of Civil Society in the Democratisation of Global Governance Institutions'.

The Economist's 'Shoe Thrower Index' here. 'Mapping the Arab World', an interactive chart, here.