Word: britishisms
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...government's newly unveiled 20 billion pound fiscal stimulus package and a cut in value-added tax. And unless retailers persuade consumers that redemption - for individuals, for businesses and for the wider economy - lies in more generous spending, Britain's downturn threatens to be steep indeed. According to the British Retail Consortium, retail sales account for a fifth of the nation's economy, with the sector responsible for some 8% of GDP and employing 11% of Britain's total workforce...
...preserve of the posh. On Nov. 26 Woolworth's and MFI, main street perennials famed for their cheaply priced goods, both collapsed, putting 31,000 jobs at risk. Administrators are hoping to find a buyer for the 815 outlets in the Woolworth's chain, founded in 1909 as a British offshoot of the U.S. company. MFI found its niche selling budget furniture...
Both businesses had attracted criticism for their sluggish response to changing consumer tastes, but it didn't matter much in fat years - and British retailers have enjoyed some very fat years. In June, government figures showed that free-spending British families had racked up debts equivalent to 173% of their incomes, by far the highest ratio of debt to income among G7 nations. That's one reason why the IMF has predicted a sharper contraction in Britain than in other advanced economies...
There's a strong dose of social realism in the novels, in keeping with Scandinavian tradition. Domestic violence is a central theme in Silence of the Grave, which won a British Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger award in 2005. Arctic Chill explores the tensions caused by a recent influx of immigrants to Iceland. But Indridason tempers the sociology with a big dollop of old-fashioned suspense. He's a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, and takes pains to entice his readers with an intriguing first chapter. Hitchcock would probably have relished the first scene of Silence of the Grave: a baby...
...British national, a man in his 30s, who was having dinner inside the Oberoi Hotel, one of the city's poshest, told the Times Now television station that two young men - in jeans and T shirts - came in brandishing AK-47s and rifles, singled out those carrying British and American passports and ordered them to the roof. "We went on the 18th floor, it became very smoky, we escaped. Just two of us," said the British man, who was not identified. As of 2 a.m. local time, several of the hostages were still being held, with dozens of Indian commandos...