Independent - Page 4

Ilya Somin of the Volokh Conspiracy, a blog hosted by the Washington Post, revisits the story of the Pilgrims at Plymouth and how instituting private property rights saved the community from ruin. There is much to be thankful for on

The Scottish Government is to be granted more powers following a report published today by Lord Smith of Kelvin. Under the plans a third of taxes will be controlled by Scotland and just a fifth of welfare spending, leading to

The impact of illegal immigration on US public schools is a topic largely broached from a dollars and cents perspective. Breitbart News quoted Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector projecting that with the President’s executive action, it will cost taxpayers nationwide upwards

To quote the cheery, lighted banner twinkling though the tear gas in Ferguson on Monday night, “Season’s Greetings, America.” It is so wonderful in these troubling times that town elders and the politicians who are running this show didn’t hang

Britain’s wealthiest wind farm developer has said he can no longer afford to apply to put up any more turbines because the Conservatives have now stacked the planning process against him. And if that sounds like good news, you haven’t

The report rocketed around the Internet, trading in equal parts outrage and glee–outrage that the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF might be spiking tetanus shots of poor African women with a sterilizing vaccine, glee that they’d been caught. Doubts

Facebook failed to notify authorities of a message from one of Lee Rigby’s killers in which he threatened to kill a soldier. Michael Adebowale used the site to contact another extremist, discussing his plans five months before carrying out the

Actress Halle Berry has taken her ex-beau, French model Gabriel Aubry, to court, alleging that he tried to alter their daughter’s appearance to make her look less African American. Berry claims that Aubry highlighted and flat-ironed their six-year-old daughter’s curly

Private school educated Dr Tristram Hunt has said that a Labour government would launch an attack on independent schools claiming charity tax breaks. Writing in The Guardian, Dr Hunt, who went to £18,000 a year University College School in Hampstead,

A new cyber hacking unit believed to be loosely affiliated with the Egyptian military called the “Egyptian Cyber Army” has emerged to combat the Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) and other Islamist terror groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood; doing so on

Thousands of British nurses, midwives and hospital cleaners went on a four-hour strike Monday calling for a pay rise, weeks after walking out for the first time in 32 years. Eleven health worker trade unions took part, calling on the

In its bid for formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican, Beijing is now ready to offer a compromise in the contentious issue of how Catholic bishops are appointed in China. This represents an important departure from Beijing’s hardline position of

AUSTIN, Texas — The Lone Star State has a well-deserved reputation for being business-friendly, but when it comes to regulating ride-sharing services — the alternatives to traditional transportation options like taxis and shuttles — Texas cities get only mediocre grades.

Breitbart Texas reporter Bob Price was in a rollover car accident Saturday evening while on assignment riding along with a Brooks County Sheriff’s Department volunteer reserve deputy named Daniel Walden. Thankfully, neither Price nor Walden were seriously injured in the

On Friday, November 21, the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) rendered its final decisions in on the new Social Studies instructional materials up for adoption. Following a contentious multi-month process fraught with attacks from education progressives like the Texas

In a sign of how frenzied, panicky and intolerant the games industry establishment has become over the legitimate concerns of ordinary gamers, the International Game Developers’ Association branded some 10,425 Twitter accounts, including those of journalists, as harassment “offenders” in

President Obama urged Republicans not to make his executive action on immigration a “dealbreaker” on other issues because “that’s not how our democracy works” in his weekly address on Saturday. Transcript as Follows: “Hi everybody. Today, I’m at Del Sol

Strong law enforcement presence and close cooperation in response to the recent immigration surge in the South Texas Border has been running cartel smugglers out of business, and forcing them to engage in common crime such as store robberies and

The Independent business section published a shock exposé on privatised British industry today, revealing that after decades of being subsidised by the taxpayer national infrastructure, including the railways, is now turning a profit. This, they paradoxically claimed, would be a

Greedy Euro MPs are demanding billions in cash from national governments in budget talks. The eight per cent increase wanted by parliamentarians is to settle unpaid bills and works out at £5.4bn. £680million of this would come from British tax

Iterations of Google Glass have been around the military for decades in helmet head-up displays. But even ultra-geeky Scientific American eighteen months ago said that the device “is creepy.” With Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently arriving sans his normal Google

In the wake of the November 14 Muslim prayer service in Washington’s National Cathedral, Christian figures have rushed to defend the event in an effort to show how open-minded and tolerant they are. The Reverend Susan Russell watched the prayer service via

It seems to be “common knowledge” these days that, though the President has ignored the Constitution and feels free to break the laws repeatedly, the I-word is only mentioned through dark doorways in hushed tones.  Holding people accountable for their

AUSTIN, Texas — Two weeks after Democrat State Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) lost the Lieutenant Governor’s race to Republican Dan Patrick by double digits, she has decided to abandon her State Senate seat and run for Mayor

Russia has opened a television channel in Britain and launched a foreign news service called Sputnik as it pulls out all the stops to promote its “alternative” voice abroad, while at home it cracks down on opposition media. At the

LONDON (Reuters) – The British government has launched a review to speed the path to market for new drugs and medical devices in an attempt to improve patient care and make the country a more attractive place for investment in

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain appointed a senior lawyer on Thursday to lead an inquiry into allegations of widespread child abuse on the tiny South Atlantic island of St Helena, and claims it was covered up by the British territory’s government

MIT Professor Jonathan Gruber, the Obamacare architect who bragged about deceiving the “stupid” American people to secure passage of the bill, has been paid an estimated $5.2 million by the federal government and 12 state governments for consulting services to

Scientists and computer programmers have recreated the brain of a lifeform in robot form by mapping the neural connections of nematode worms, translating that into software and downloading it into a lego robot. They found that the robot behaved in

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson for at least the remainder of 2014 on Tuesday morning.  The indefinitely-long exile comes in the aftermath of Peterson’s plea deal in his child-abuse case. The agreement put a

The King of Sweden has sent Palestine a message of support on its National Day, which celebrates their Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Israel. King Carl XVI Gustaf sent the personal message to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday. The

Already on the hook for $65 billion in outstanding school bond debt approved and issued between 2007-2013, Texans voted in more mega-school bond debt statewide in 2014 that will pile nearly $10 billion more onto the statewide property tax payer

Am I alone in silently hoping Band Aid 30 bombs? I mean, how ill-conceived does a charity single have to be for Adele—who demands a $20 donation for her favourite cause from every backstage guest at every show she plays—to

This article originally appeared in The Independent: The Islamic State (Isis) has recruited an army hundreds of thousands strong, far larger than previous estimates by the CIA, according to a senior Kurdish leader. He said the ability of Isis to

Conservative Member of Parliament Andrew Bridgen is mounting an offensive against the BBC licence fee, backed by 50 of his colleagues. He has written to Culture Secretary Sajid Javid branding the licence fee one of “the most regressive taxes in