My Big Fat Revision

The Brexit vote is often the topic of many discussions. It was a referendum that has the potential to make history. Even those who campaigned for a leave vote such as Nigel Farage had ‘absolutely no idea’ what would happen. It has been almost eight months since the vote on the UK’s status in the European Union, at which the country were in favour of leaving by 52% to 48% - but why did 48% of the voting population vote to stay? I wish I owned this The most commonly touched on reason to leave is that of immigration, as many people were fearful that jobs would be stolen and the terror threat level would increase. The truth is: allowing a free movement of people allows for a richer and more diverse culture. People that come from the continent are very important to public services. Many people do not take away from the UK but simply add to it. For example, More than 60% of new migrants from western and southern   Europe , who account for 900,000 of the 2 million who ...

To patent or not to patent? A passage from an 1851 issue of The Economist said that the patent system “excited fraud, stimulates men to run after schemes that may enable them to levy a tax on the public, begets disputes and quarrels betwixt inventors, provokes endless lawsuits [and] bestows rewards on the wrong persons”. This was written over 150 years ago, yet it is certainly still capable of doing all of those things today. The supposed evidence that the current patent system encourages investment into research that leads to innovation is actually weak. A large amount of recent in research years, including a 2004 study by America’s National Academy of Sciences, suggests that with a few exceptions such as medicine, society as a whole might actually benefit without patents. This is because there are issues and ethical objections regarding patents and the high prices for medication that they enable creators to change. The people who need these drugs most – namely...