Kellyanne Conway directly broke US ethics rules by promoting Ivanka Trump's clothing line.

The troll's standard practice is to violate all ethics standards in the most blatant way, in effect saying "You can't stop me!" Conway must have felt she could and ought to do likewise. It will be interesting to see if Republicans allow her to be punished for this.

Most Americans hold a sexist attitude towards married couples' names: they condemn women who don't change their last names, but strangely don't condemn men for doing the same thing. When you look into the reasons, you find broader sexism.

8 countries have now joined forces to make up the cuts in aid to be caused by the troll's global gag rule against aid to organizations that mention "abortion".

Bravo! I hope American individuals who donate to global women's health provision can also redirect their aid to this fund rather than to funds which don't counter the anti-abortion extremism of the US.

Adults under 35 waste more food, apparently because they want to show off a large platefull on Instagram.

The study that found this was in the UK, but I expect the US is just the same.

How silly it is to show off the food on your plate! Unless it is a work of art. I've eaten a few times in my life in restaurants where that was the case, and I appreciated it — but what I particularly want from food is for it to be delicious when it has disappeared into my mouth.

And if there is food left over, how silly to throw it away!

The UN assistant secretary general compares Boko Haram to the IRA and says that Nigeria has learned it cannot get rid of Boko Haram.

I never felt any sympathy for the IRA's cause, and I still don't. But the IRA never tried to kidnap girls and turn them into slaves or suicide bombers, and one can at least understand its cause without having to be a fanatic. Does a large minority in a part of Nigeria really support Boko Haram including its violence, or does it support a less violent position from which the extremists go to Boko Haram?