And there's still no better way to throw down the fitness gauntlet than to roll up your sleeves and unveil some powerful guns.

Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.

The fastidious and solitary public-schoolboy [George Orwell] dosses down with tramps and tarts and forces himself to endure bedbugs and chamberpots and lockups.

He was unable to explain to our satisfaction how he could handle 10 shares on $30 margin “so that all transactions made under the double trading system are protected and there are no calls for remargins."