Government Fraud and Cover Up

Whereas Guy Fawkes failed to blow up parliament, a woman succeeded in doing so if virtually. Heather Brooke is the journalist who had the unprecedented cheek to question the expenses of MPs (that's member of parliament). By doing this, she managed to blow up 649 fraudsters in the Commons including all cabinet ministers and the complete shadow government as well as several hundred in the Lords. Good show.

Language Barriers

Linguistics is a science that is at best a bit murky, at worst nationalistic and highly political; it can become a quagmire, too. The language barriers I mention in the title refer to the barriers put up by linguists on their own understanding of languages. A new book tries to get rid of a few 19th century hold-overs embedded in our minds.