M F

"Meanwhile, evidence from Trussell Trust, which supports food banks that give meals to 120,000 people nationwide, also suggests that the problem is growing. Its executive chairman, Chris Mould, said there had been a "huge increase" in demand in recent months – and among the hungry were 36,000 children. Even though the service is expanding, the charity is discovering more and more people in food poverty, who increasingly rely on the charity sector. "What we have seen suggests there are thousands of people in this country going hungry – making hard choices between, fuel, warmth, transport and food," he said. "The pressure falls hardest on mothers and children."" - M F

"Teresi tours through the ways humanity has identified death throughout history, and includes several alarming anecdotes about when death has been misdiagnosed. But his primary focus is on brain death, and he grows increasingly aggravated as he points out that the criteria used to determine "irreversible coma" were established by a group of 13 Harvard physicians and academics nearly half a century ago, based on no data and with a stated goal of reducing controversy when it came to procuring donor organs. What's more, he stresses, even those criteria are no longer fully adhered to. For example, electroencephalography (EEG) to look for activity in the cortex is not mandated. Also alarming, he says, is that the list of conditions that can mimic the traits of brain death has grown over the years, and now includes hypothermia and drug intoxication." - M F

"A study of coroners’ court records found fatal accidents were much more likely to occur in June than any other month, as agricultural work and travel reached a peak. The figures, discovered during an investigation into 16th century inquests, reveal deaths from drowning, working accidents and misadventure." - M F

Damned distracted drivers. - bentley

I would have guessed the binge drinking at spring break to be a more dangerous time. - Steve C, Team Marina

"As the Guardian reports today, Paul McCartney's son James has raised the possibility that he could form a band with the other sons of the original Fab Four. Speaking to BBC News' Ian Youngs, James revealed he had discussed a collaboration with Sean Lennon and Dhani Harrison, and suggested Jason Starkey could complete the lineup for a Beatles 2.0. Is this something you'd like to see?" - M F

"Ministers are to introduce a new law allowing police and security services to extend their monitoring of the public's email and social media communications, the Home Office has confirmed. It is expected that the new system will allow security officials to scrutinise who is talking to whom and exactly when the conversations are taking place, but not the content of messages." - M F

Remember when Labour tried to introduce this a few years back? Remember who opposed it? Oh, that would be the people in charge now who suddenly think it's a good idea. I bet these people would read Animal Farm and come away with the conclusion that it's a book about how good it is to be a pig. - Mark H

I do remember very well unfortunately and I don't know how I am going to find the motivation to vote ever again. - M F

"Another large UK music festival was cancelled last week, as Sonisphere joined the Big Chill and other smaller events and bowed out of the summer of 2012. Is the British public's love affair with music festivals on the rocks? Or is this year an anomaly, with festivals feeling the effect of the Olympics and the Euro 2012 football championships?" - M F

<3 - Maitani

"The following series of photographs have been collected by Charles H McCaghy, a professor emeritus at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. They were taken in the 1890's and, by some historical accounts, the sight of these ample bosoms and thighs drove men into frenzies of passion, whilst those of a more restrained character considered that such actresses were little better than prostitutes." - M F

"Male bottlenose dolphins organise gang-like alliances - guarding females against other groups and occasionally "changing sides". A team studying dolphins in Shark Bay, western Australia, say the animals roam hundreds of square kilometres, often encountering other dolphin groups." - M F

They've probably mastered the fake smile, then. - Eivind

"The Mail is the most powerful newspaper in Great Britain. A middle-market tabloid, with a daily readership of four and a half million, it reaches four times as many people as the Guardian, while being taken more seriously than the one paper that outsells it, the Sun. In January, its Web arm, Mail Online, surpassed that of the New York Times as the most visited newspaper site in the world, drawing fifty-two million unique visitors a month. The Mail’s closest analogue in the American media is perhaps Fox News." - M F

Really, oh :-( - Heleninstitches #teamff

"Lady Grey-Thompson, who was born with spina bifida, revealed she was recently left stranded at King's Cross station in London at midnight after travelling from her home in north east England. She said she had to shuffle onto the floor and push her wheelchair towards the door of the train. But the baroness told BBC Wales she was shocked by some of the abuse she attracted from people posting their views on a newspaper website which carried the story. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote I've got quite a thick skin but when you hear people talking like that in a very derogatory way about disabled people I find that quite worrying” Baroness Grey-Thompson "A couple of hundred people said some fairly unpleasant things about me along the lines of 'what gives her the right to speak, she should be at home, she shouldn't be out at midnight, she should be better organised', and what right did I think I had to travel on public transport." - M F

So much anger nurtured in people - by the government, the opposition and general media - eventually it seeks a target :( Sad that nobody spoke up - Iphigenie

"With the body under considerable stresses and the race consuming an entire day's worth of calories, conventional wisdom says completing a marathon is a physical ordeal for which you have to prepare. Add cramps, chafing, dizziness and dehydration into the mix, and the 26-mile mission can push the human body to its limits." - M F

I've known a couple of people who have, but you have to be in really good shape otherwise - Shevonne

Me? No way :) - Eivind

I doubt you could run continuously or complete it in the maximum amount of time allotted without training. Twenty-six miles is incredibly hard on the body. I know a couple runners who have quit because of joint problems. - Lit

"Scores of environmental regulations are to be slashed under government plans to be announced on Monday, the Guardian has learned. The rules affected include controls on asbestos, invasive species and industrial air pollution; protection for wildlife and common lands; as well as restrictions on noise nuisance and deadly animal traps." - M F

That's right we need more freedom to pollute, luckily they promised us it was going to be the greenest government ever. Otherwise we would be in real trouble. - M F

"The Guardian has learned that NHS Devon and Devon county council have shortlisted bids led by two private, profit-making companies – Serco and Virgin Care – to provide a large range of frontline services for children across the county, including some of the most sensitive care for highly vulnerable children and families, such as child protection, treatment for mentally ill children and adolescents, therapy and respite care for those with disabilities, health visiting, and palliative nursing for dying children." - M F

private organisations = profit = no patient care = ... - Halil

"A government minister has come under fire after suggesting a care worker could get a job 'near' her Bolton home – at a car factory in Sunderland. Chloe Smith, a Conservative Treasury minister, told Parliament that the woman – a care worker for the Stroke Association – should consider finding a job at the Nissan car factory in Sunderland, which yesterday announced the creation of 2000 jobs. But travelling from Bolton to Sunderland would involved a 280-mile round trip – and a train ride of four hours 19 minutes EACH way." - M F

"In the US, 100 years is a long time; in the UK 100 miles is a long way." - Andrew C (✔)

Apparently she has a job and wants to do more hours but cannot find anything, suggesting to her to travel 140 miles each way to do a few extra hours a day is just plain silly. Apart from the fact that she is a care worker, I fail to see the connection with a car manufacturing plant. Politicians seem to find everything easy, they tell people to move to look for work and then they complain that people do not live near their elderly relatives who soon or later will need care. They want mothers to work and then they complain that they don't spend enough time with their kids. We are always wrong whatever we do. - M F

"I support the NHS because countless pieces of international research have shown it to be the fairest and cheapest way of providing health care." - M F

"As you are probably aware a storm has been raging over “workfare” programmes. I have had numerous conversations on the subject recently and have found that the same, apparently reasonable, superficially appealing arguments are being put forward, in their defence. Iain Duncan Smith wrote an article for the Daily Mail yesterday [no link provided - I would rather direct you to donkey porn], in which he suggested that “the battle lines have been drawn” on this issue. He suggests that on one side of this “war” are “those prepared to do everything they can to give a chance to young people”, which includes the government and august charitable institutions like TESCO. On the other side “armed with an unjustified sense of superiority and sporting an intellectual sneer, we find a commentating elite which seems determined to belittle and downgrade any opportunity for young people”." - M F

Quite :) - Pete&#39;s Got To Go

"Newsboy Cap($68) for cat by etsy seller CatAtelier. It looks cool. "It is made of a soft black/grey herringbone wool blend in the classic newsboy shape, with a very slight slouch to the side. The brim snaps down to the crown, so it can be worn unsnapped (poufed up) if you want. There is a small herringbone cover button on top, as all proper newsboy caps will have. It is held on the head with a light elastic under the chin. The cap is fully lined with cotton, and crafted with utmost care."" - M F

I doubt my cat would like it. - M F

I doubt any cat would like it. - Michael W. May

I think you are quite right there. - M F

"We often worry about people who lie awake in the middle of the night - but it could be good for you. Scientists have been making the case for 20 years that the eight-hour sleep may be unnatural, and now historians are backing them up." - M F

What Nicholas said. I'd love 8 hours (I think I do best at 8-10 hours/night) but 8 hours would require me to go to sleep at 9PM and that's not happening. - Rochelle

"The government is planning to extend its snooping powers with new legislation which is entitled the Communications Capabilities Development Programme. Due to be pushed through later this spring, the plan would mean landline, broadband and mobile providers would have to keep records of calls, texts, emails and other electronic communications. According to an article in the Telegraph, data would have to be stored for a year, and would include records of everything, even elements as diverse as direct messages between parties on Twitter, or conversations in online video games." - M F

yay fun and games. host your own email in another country, i say - Iphigenie

"Tesco has called on the government to stop forcing youths to undertake work experience in exchange for receiving benefits, after the supermarket came in for criticism for participating in "slave labour". The consumer giant has instead said young people will be offered a choice between being paid for a four-week placement with a "guaranteed" permanent job if they perform well, or participating in the scheme which protects benefits. However they recommend the department of work and pensions remove the risk of losing benefits "to avoid any misunderstanding about the voluntary nature of the scheme"." - M F

"A new law is racing through the Lords, having passed the Commons. It is called the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, and it contains an infamous clause, which goes by the number 130. If clause 130 passes, squatting an unoccupied residential property will no longer be a civil offence but a criminal one, punishable by a maximum fine of £5,000 – which feels like a joke when tossed at the homeless – or a sentence of up to a year. If the government does jail the homeless for being homeless, the joke surely is – well, they won't be homeless any more." - M F

This government is doing everything it can to make the poor poorer, this will not be a pretty country in five years time. - M F

really sucks... ugghhh - JB

"A government minister has insisted there is "no shortage of jobs", blaming unemployment on people's unwillingness to apply for the work available. Maria Miller, the minister for disabled people in the Department for Work and Pensions, said on Sunday night she believed the unemployment problem was down to a lack of "appetite" for the jobs on offer." - M F

Correct, speaking from an employer's perspecting unless you have a great rapport in the interview with the person, anyone with "caveats" will seem like a big risk. That goes for disabilities, being foreign, being the wrong gender for the "standard", looking weird, being young, being old. Alas, that's the way it is. Good HR managers can put policies in place to compensate, but many are worse than normal managers - Iphigenie

"It is a government and media peddled myth that this bill is about the unemployed. It’s not. This bill will affect millions of employed people as well as millions of disabled adults and children. This bill is not designed to solve the problems of worklessness and benefit dependency as I will explain. this is about money, money for the treasury that none of YOU will see a penny of." - M F

"Properties are being advertised for rent for as much as £100,000 a week over the Olympic period in some well-heeled parts of west London, while tenants closer to the Games sites are finding their rents increasing up to fourfold. One tenant living in east London said a clause had been added to his rental contract last year that said there would be "a minimum increase of 4.0x multiple of the current weekly rent during the Olympics and 2.0x multiple of current weekly rent during the Paralympics"." - M F

They told us we were all going to become rich with the Olympics. - M F

That was predicted 2 years ago already... I'm actually surprised there are actually not too many occurences, all in all. - Iphigenie

I don't expect to come anywhere near London during the Olympics if I can avoid it - unless I somehow manage to become a VIP in between - Iphigenie