London Calling by Mignonne Senaratne

'Manners maketh man'

The famous three words by the 14th century bishop, William of Wykeham. Oscar Wilde had just one quip: "a gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally."

Becoming a gentleman nowadays is not so easy, writes Adam Lusher in the Daily Telegraph, after volunteering to attend classes at the world's first 'finishing school for gentlemen' at Lickleyhead Castle in Scotland.

"We have big dreams. We want to be gentlemen. And right here is where we start paying: in 650 pounds course fees, and, we soon discover, frightening exposure to hairdressers, Scottish dancing and colour co-ordination" said Lusher.

The idea for a gentleman's finishing school sprang from the courses Miss Mather (a former actress and BBC newsreader), runs for women.

"It's a minefield out there - your clothes, how you walk, could be the difference in getting the contract, or the lady. Ninety per cent of our impressions of people are formed in the first 10 seconds" she said.

The imperturbable English

The common portrayal of the English as buttoned-up and conventional is the most inaccurate national stereotype of all, researchers have found. "It is chiefly because the 'perception' of the English is that they are reserved. In fact, England is one of the more extroverted countries in the world" said Dr Robert McCrae of the US National Institute on Ageing (Baltimore).

Common stereotypes such as industrious Germans and passionate Italians do not reflect the real personalities of people in these countries, according to the study published in the journal Science.

Dr McCrae's research has found that the differences between the French and the English "are relatively modest" while the Irish "correctly think they are more extroverted than most."

The researchers used three different surveys of people across 49 nationalities. They asked nearly 4000 people to describe a 'typical' member of their own culture.

Americans believe that the typical American is very assertive and the Canadians think that the typical Canadian is submissive but, in fact, American and Canadian have almost identical scores on measures of assertiveness, a little above the world average.

Interestingly, Indian citizens think they are unconventional and open to a wide range of new experiences but measurements of personality show that they are the most conventional people in the world.

- Daily Telegraph

Londongrad

Russia has an estimated 33 'dollar' billionaires and 88,000 millionaires, many of whom now call London - or Moscow2 as it is known among their select group - home.

Lured by three-hour flights, relatively lax tax rules and Bond Street shops, oligarchs and their families are following in the footsteps of the Chelsea football club own, Roman Abramovich, in setting up home in London.

There are an estimated 300,000 Russians living in Britain, and while they may not all have the 7 billion pound spending power of Mr Abramovich, a substantial proportion still have a lot of cash to flash.

The luxury departmental store Harvey Nichols employs six Russian-speaking assistants on its shop floors after seeing a rise in the number of high-spending oligarchs coming through its doors. Richard Gray, marketing manager, said: "The Russians are to this decade what the Japanese were to the Nineties and the Arabs were to the Eighties."

The faltering housing market is also being buoyed by sales to Russians for whom money is no object. Mr Abmovich bought a five-storey Georgian townhouse in Belgravia for 11 million pounds in June, while Leonard Blavatnik snapped up a house in Kensington Palace Gardens for 41 million pounds.

Russians have been moving into more central parts of London like Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Mayfair in recent months.

The Red Square Projects which was set up in London to cater for the whims of wealthy Russian expatriates has capitalised on the Russia's new love affair with Britain.

A spokeswoman for Red Square said: "Immigration from Russia has come in three waves - at the beginning of the 20th century, people escaped the revolution and went to Paris...then in the 1970's a huge number of people went to Israel and the USA to escape Communism... and now Britain is the favourite place - Russians like the shops, the culture, the public schools and the houses... London is only three and a half hours by plane from Moscow, so people can live here but pop back for parties and to see friends and family."

- The Independent

Fingerprints

Manual work has never been good for the hands, but now it seems it could get a person in trouble with the authorities. Labourers and builders could find that their fingerprints are misidentified by hi-tech scanners developed for national ID cards because their fingerprints have been worn away. They are not alone - typists, pianists, violinists and guitarists also face inaccurate readings, an internal report for the government has reportedly warned.

The problem is that the fingerprints can be severely worn down, particularly among people who work with abrasive materials.

"The ridges that make up fingerprints are like a ploughed field" says fingerprint expert Raymond Broadstock.

The damage is not permanent as the skin rejuvenates within days but there is little chance for people working in such professions to get a long enough rest for the ridges to rebuild.

"Prisoners have been known to rub their hands against the rough wall of their prison cells to try and wear away the ridges... they are just placed in cells with smooth walls for a few days until the skin rejuvenates itself" said Mr Broadstock. One possible way round the problem would be to develop machines that scan fingers and palms, as they have the same unique ridges.

- BBC News