World

Is Google racist?  That is the charge made in a short video in which someone types ‘three white teenagers’ and ‘three black teenagers’ into the Google images and finds that while the former brings up images of happy, smiling students, the latter brings up what appear to be police mugshots. Given that Google searches do to a certain extent reflect a user’s own past search history, I am not entirely sure what the video, which has gone viral, is supposed to prove. When I repeated the experiment it pulled up some mugshots of black teenagers – though no obviously police images – but it also brought up a large number

‘The isles of Greece! The isles of Greece! Where burning Sappho loved and sung, Where grew the arts of war and peace, Where Delos rose, and Phoebus sprung!’ I couldn’t agree more with Lord Byron about the joys of the Greek islands. Here in Cephalonia, the poppies are out, back-lit by a strong spring sun. The swallows are swooping low across the villa, taking little sips from the swimming pool. The tavernas are gearing up for the summer season; the sea bass at lunch was freshly caught this morning. Still, lucky old Byron never had to deal with a ferry strike between the isles of Greece. A general strike meant

Now that the next President of the United States is set to be either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, many voters are trying to work out which candidate is the ‘least worst option’. Now Ruby Wax has put forward her two cents’ worth. Giving a talk on her book A Mindfulness Guide For The Frazzled, Wax recalled her own first hand experience of Trump when she was sent to interview him fifteen years ago: ‘We should be in final flight mode. We should be going on all fours and getting out the claws because Donald Trump.’ The interview did not go to plan after she laughed at his plans to run

As I entered my 30s I remember thinking how lucky I was. I had a successful career, owned property and was enjoying life as a singleton. Many of my friends were already married, some with children, but the desire wasn’t quite there for me. I wasn’t ready. Now as I march towards my 40s, I’ve embarked on a new life in Turkey. I’m still single, childless and successful. I’m happy, but apparently I shouldn’t be, as according to the country’s President, I have behaved in the wrong way. On the eve of Ramadan, the Muslim Holy month, President Erdogan gave all women something to think about during the fast. Addressing

You don’t have to like Hillary Clinton to hope she becomes the next President of the United States. But, by god, this year, in this election, she is, as you might say, likeable enough. Of course there is something dispiriting about Mrs Clinton’s campaign. But, based on time-served entitlement and identity politics as it may be, it is nowhere – nothing – like as dispiriting as the alternative. Nor is it as mournfully depressing as the spectacle of so many Republicans dutifully lining up to endorse a man they know – if they have any shred of intellectual or even political decency – is the most appalling, dangerous, and unqualified candidate

Not since Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s vault 30 years ago has a media stunt landed with such a wet thud. Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, longtime horse whisperer to the Republican half of Washington’s political establishment, had promised on Sunday that after months of begging any hawk with a pulse to run against the hated Donald Trump, there will finally ‘be an independent candidate – an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance.’ Monday came and went without any such announcement, and then on Tuesday we learned that Kristol’s white knight was a mostly obscure conservative commentator in Tennessee named David A. French. Who doesn’t even

Oh we do like to be beside the seaside…but it comes at a cost. According to the latest research from Halifax, house prices have increased by a third across British seaside towns over the past decade. The annual Halifax Seaside Town Review revealed average house prices have grown from £166,565 in 2006 to £219,386 in 2016, equivalent to an average increase of £440 per month. The UK’s most expensive seaside town is Sandbanks in Dorset, with the average house price there nearly £665,000. Salcombe in Devon, where the average home is worth £539,950, came second. Unsurprisingly, eight of the top 10 most expensive seaside towns were in south-west England. The least

Dr Johnson said that if anyone truly wanted to understand themselves, they should listen to what their enemies say about them. And whilst China is not an enemy of the EU, it is certainly highly critical of it. Why then did China’s President Xi Jinping wade into the Brexit debate and call on Britain to stay put? What would possibly make him support something that criticises his country on human rights, trade issues and market access? One reason is simply because, for all their differences with western democracies, Chinese leaders and policy makers are very pragmatic. They view Europe predominantly as an economic actor, not a security one. And as

Think Donald Trump is too vulgar, too crazy to actually make it to the White House? Then you probably thought he’d never make the nomination. When he stood, Arianne Huffington said she would cover his race in the “entertainment” section of her website. Now he has ended up securing enough delegates to wrap up the Republican nomination. We’ve been told by commentators doing their bit to re-assure us that there’s no way the orange maniac would win a general election. In fact, the truth is rather scarier, with the average results from recent polls putting Trump ahead with a 43.4 per cent share compared to Hillary’s 43.2 per cent. Quite a

If as a teenager you couldn’t leave home quick enough, spare a thought for the 3.8 million young adults who will be living with their parents by 2025. That’s the conclusion of a study by the insurer Aviva. The company found that a million more 21 to 34-year-olds are likely to find themselves living with their parents over the next decade thanks to the prohibitive cost of housing. The number of households containing two or more families is also expected to rise, from 1.5 million to 2.2 million. Meanwhile, Hometrack reports that house prices in the UK’s biggest cities have jumped due to the buy-to-let surge, with Cambridge outpacing its rival Oxford. Average price

Do you remember when they said it wasn’t possible? When the pointy-headed wonks in Washington DC and the New York journalists with their masters degrees said Donald Trump’s campaign would be hit by scandal, or come undone without the support of experienced Republican party officials who knew how to work complicated caucus states, or that the candidate would simply lose interest and go back to making money? At a little before quarter past 10 on Thursday morning, an Associated Press reporter ran the numbers through his calculator and found that Trump had proved the sceptics wrong, he had clinched the 1237 delegates he needed for the Republican Party nomination. A