The AnswerBank Articles

What's the difference between George Bush's Star Wars and Ronald Reagan's

asks johnjo:A. The answer is: not much. It was back in 1983 that Ronald Reagan, in his famous 'Star Wars' speech promised to make nuclear weapons 'impotent and obsolete'. George W Bush's $10000:00 Fri 11th May 2001

Can shopping can make you depressed

asks Su Smith:A. I'm afraid so. Which is a bit hard to take for those who use retail therapy as a way to cheer themselves up. A new study by analysts Publicis found that binge shopping actually makes00:00 Tue 08th May 2001

Who are the Falun Gong who were arrested in Tiananmen Square in China this week

asks Jarnold:A. April 25 was the second anniversary of the Falun Gong's first demonstration. On that occasion, 10,000 protesters assembled for a silent sit-in outside the communist leadership compound00:00 Fri 27th Apr 2001

Why is no-one buying mobile phones any more

asks Miss Don: A. In case you hadn't glanced around you in the street lately - everyone's got one. At least, everyone who was likely to buy one in the first place. This saturation of the marketplace00:00 Wed 25th Apr 2001

Why are we more intelligent than we used to be

asks Modge: A. Because we do more stimulating things than previous generations - we watch TV, surf the net, spend hours talking on the phone... Q. I thought all these were bad things A. Not any00:00 Tue 24th Apr 2001

Is it true that Edinburgh Castle is haunted

asks mayastar:A. Looks like it. There has just been a ten-day investigation into the vaults and tunnels around Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile. Q. Why A. The vaults, which were only discovered00:00 Thu 19th Apr 2001

Is it true that the Klu Klux Klan is active in Australia

asks PDTV: A. There's evidence that white supremacist groups are conducting hate campaigns against aborigines in some provincial towns. As a result, Queensland and Victoria are introducing laws to00:00 Wed 18th Apr 2001

What difference will the new matrons make

asks woolley:A. Health Secretary Alan Milburn recently announced that he planned to reinstate hospital matrons, and it's hoped that they'll make a significant difference in the cleanliness of00:00 Sun 15th Apr 2001

What is the aim of the May Day protest

asks Su Smith:A. Specifically, to bring London to a standstill on 1 May. Q. How is it going to be done A. Planned events include mass cycle rallies, protests at the World Bank offices in the00:00 Fri 13th Apr 2001

What is Blair doing to get tourists back to the countryside

asks Riley:A. Tony Blair, along with John Prescott and other Government ministers, has been visiting rural areas and having pub lunches in country inns in order to reinforce the message that 'the00:00 Thu 12th Apr 2001

How do we know when Britain is officially in recession

asked Riley A. In the UK, the accepted definition of a recession is 'two successive quarters of quarter-on-quarter negative growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).' In layman's terms, this translates00:00 Fri 06th Apr 2001

What is the Kyoto Treaty

A. The Kyoto Protocol is an international climate treaty to halt climate change. Under the agreement, the developed countries of the world are to commit to reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and00:00 Fri 30th Mar 2001

Why is the Royal Mail losing its 150-year-old monoploy

A. On 26 March a new law was introduced that enables 'PostComm', the new Post Office regulator,to give licences to other companies enabling them to deliver post costing less than 1. Q. What other00:00 Mon 26th Mar 2001

The Mir Space Station finally makes it home

A. Yes, the 15-year-old space station which has been beset with problems finally ended its life crashing safely into the Pacific Ocean. During its 15 years it travelled over 2.2 billion miles,00:00 Fri 23rd Mar 2001

Why are so many people raising money for farmers

A. There is an underlying belief that the foot and mouth outbreak is a crisis which is not of their own making. That's why Prince Charles, and the Duke of Westminster have funnelled 1m between them00:00 Fri 16th Mar 2001

When is the next general election going to be

A. Political analysts predict that the next general election will fall on 3 May 2001. Their calculations are based the government's scheduling of the budget and various other voter-grabbing00:00 Wed 07th Mar 2001

Q&A: Foot and Mouth disease

Q. What is foot and mouth disease A. Foot-and-mouth is an infectious viral disease that causes small blisters called vesicules to erupt around the feet and mouth of an animal. The earliest signs00:00 Wed 28th Feb 2001

Why does the government want a drug-dealers register

By Christina Okoli Why does the government want to register known drug dealers Plans to introduce a register of known drug dealers were announced by the prime minister Tony Blair at the Labour00:00 Thu 22nd Feb 2001

Has drug taking among British teenagers continued to rise

No, the number of British teenagers experimenting with legal and illegal drugs has actually fallen slightly since 1995, according to a survey by the World Health Organisation. The survey found that00:00 Tue 20th Feb 2001

End of the road for Napster

by Oliver Goggi FOLLOWING months of litigation it appears Napster has finally been brought to its knees. The ruling by a Californian court to stop trading in copyrighted material means that although00:00 Tue 13th Feb 2001