Sunday, May 31, 2015

Magazine Monitor

Weekend Edition: The week's best reads

Magazine MonitorA collection of cultural artefacts

Sao Miguel, Azores — Copyright: Thinkstock

A collection of some of the best features from the BBC News website this week, with an injection of your comments.

"Stand by! The Easyjet crowds are on their way," tweeted Jim Smith. A new location has appeared on the flight routes of Europe's budget airlines - the Azores. About 850 miles off the coast of Portugal, the islands in the Atlantic Ocean were once a stopping point for Concorde. Until this year, anyone without access to a private jet could only visit the Azores aboard Portugal's state-run airlines. But the government in Lisbon has now opened the market to no-frills carriers.

Europe's next cheap holiday destination?

Plague of distraction

"This is a brilliant article about work and what we do with our time," tweeted Matthew Williamson. People spend time in the office messing about, chatting, paying the bills, surfing the net, daydreaming and waiting for the day to finish. In our latest Viewpoint, Peter Fleming argues entire occupations might be considered phoney and the sheer amount of time spent at work is totally disproportionate to the vital tasks that need to be achieved.

Why do people waste so much time at the office?

Dental divide

"I've got all my own teeth, I keep them in a matchbox," posted Mark Hooper. People in the UK are the second most likely in Europe to attend dental surgeries. And yet British people retain a reputation for having bad teeth. Although just 3% of people in the UK have had teeth-whitening work, lagging behind the 14% in the US, dental decay - particularly among children - is in decline.

The myth of bad British teeth

Who pulled the trigger?

Alberto Nisman, May 2013 — Photo: Reuters

"Intriguing story - would make a great book," commented Eileen Blaauw-McGiff. Just hours before Alberto Nisman was due to present a report to Argentina's Congress, the prosecutor was found dead in his 13th floor flat, with a single gunshot wound to the head. His report detailed accusations that the government was involved in covering up the worst terror attack in the country's history. Was Nisman's death suicide or murder?

Who killed Alberto Nisman?

Railroaded

The old Penn station — The end of the first Penn Station pushed architectural preservationsts to act

"Lead us not into Penn Station!" posted James Kulbacki. This beautiful station in the heart of New York was torn down half a century ago and rebuilt. The current incarnation is a shadow of its former self. However, its demolition paved the way for many of the city's other culturally and architecturally significant buildings to survive.

How Penn Station saved New York's architectural history