The death of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi led to many newspapers rehashing the stories about the Beatles contact with his Transcental Meditation, but it has transpired that his TM could have more properly stood for Transcendal Materialism. It seemed the great man had sited his HQ in a Dutch village for tax reasons. "As ever, the business-savvy guru was ahead of the game: the big draw is a financial regime that has made the Netherlands the E.U.'s top tax shelter. Among those who have set up holding companies there are Ikea, Nike, Coca-Cola and Gucci."
(Guardian, 7 February)
Like many religious leaders before him this guru told his followers not to be concerned with the material things of life, but in practice was very shrewd about the way capitalism operated. RD

"Poverty affects 3.8 million children in the UK, making ours one of the worst rates in the industrialised world. Children living in poverty are likely to have lower self-esteem, poorer health, and lower aspirations and educational achievements than their peers. Poverty also shortens lives. A boy in Manchester can expect to live seven years less than a boy in Barnet, North London.
(Times, 12 February) RD

"Home repossessions in Scotland have increased by almost a third over the last three years while, across the UK, they have reached their highest level since the 1990s. New figures released yesterday show that the number of Britons losing their) homes because of mortgage payment arrears has almost doubled in two years. Repossessions have risen for the third year in a row to 27,100, with evidence that Scottish figures are also sharply increasing."
(Sunday Herald) 10 February RD