New Labour bitter?

A German Tory politician has upset the elderly, saying that they should not be a burden on the German health service by getting hip replacements. Philipp Missfelder of the CDU said: “In the past, people used to walk on crutches, so why can't they do the same now? Obviously, the Germans have learned something from the British NHS, where thousands of elderly people are forced to wait in queues on their crutches for years, waiting for hips.

Rent boys

The world famous architect Daniel Lipeskind (designer of the imperial War Museum in Manchester) has won the competition for the new building to replace New York's twin towers. Unfortunately, his victory is already rather hollow. Incorporated into the design was a sunken memorial to those who were killed in the 9/11 tragedy. However, the property magnate who owns the lease to the site has opposed the memorial on the grounds that it will reduce the office space available in the building, and so reduce his rental income.

Unequal Opps

After 30 years of equal pay legislation, pay is anything but equal. The average gap between full-time male and female workers stands at 20%, while that between part-time workers is over 40%. It is the part-time, casual, manual women workers who have been left furthest behind. Worse, the statistics do not take into account the many areas of low-paid work types dominated by women workers. For example, cleaners are the lowest paid workers in Britain, and they are mainly women.