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It is true that the UK has some world-class facilities in very specific areas. However, the salaries and the cost of living hardly make it attractive. If you look at Oxford (probably the best in the UK), the salary of a lecturer (public information... just google it) is quite low when comparing...

The UK doesn't know how to build and run high speed trains efficiently. HS1 is very expensive to run and it was very expensive to build. Maybe get the Spanish or the Chinese to build it instead. The other problem is over course the distance. It makes sense to have HST from Paris to Marseille...

No, the civil engineering works are about 3/4 of the cost. However, the cost of building an infrastructure capable of supporting trains at speeds of 350 km/h is quite different from the cost of having trains running at 250 km/h. Furthermore, the rolling stock, the signalling, and the running...

HS2 is a bad idea because the numbers don't add up. 1) the calculated return on investment will be 50%, i.e. the economic return is £1 for every £2 invested. 2) the cost per km of HSR in the UK is twice the cost in France. 3) the HSR will only reduce the travel time in 20 minutes. The reason...

It is specially hard because he isn't a French astronaut. He is an European Space Agency astronaut of French nationality. The first and only French astronaut was Jean-Loup Chrétien, since he was from CNES and went to space through the Soviet programme Intercosmos.

Personally, if I was an MP I would vote with my conscience irrespective of the referendum vote. Brexit will have a bigger impact than any of the previous wars in the last 20 years. In 20 years time, I wouldn't want to say to my hypothetical constituents that I voted <remain/leave> because I...

The key difference between EU and US anti-competition rules is that the EU looks for damages to the competition, while the US looks at damages to the consumers. It is clear that Intel damaged AMD when it was an actual threat. Nowadays, they want to keep AMD around in order to make sure they are...

A design patent ranks low in terms of patents because it is almost as an extension of the design copyright. What would be acceptable is for Apple to patent designs that are truly a reflection of the brand (e.g. the fishbowl design of first imac from 1998). To try to patent obvious shapes and...

I wonder if the EU regulators will need to validate the acquisition...

The problem is the lack of "vertical" density. Most people in the UK live in houses and even London is one of the least dense cities even though millions of people live there. In most OECD countries much more than 50% of the population lives in cities and these cities are mostly comprised by...

In Europe, pick-up trucks are considered a trade worker's vehicle (builder, plumber,...) and it basically the same as driving a van. Europeans do like SUV's but mostly the compact SUV's. When people can afford it, they tend to go for BMW 3-series, but of course the best selling car is the VW...

The fish-tank idea is actually quite good and it requires some work. Another scenario that is very simple but quite expensive to buy off-the-shelf is a central heating remote controller, These cost between 120-250€ and are either very basic or extremely difficult to use. They usually allow for...