EDITION 750
28 JANUARY 2019

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I'd be very grateful if you did.

1. How to reverse a conversational meltdown. Conversational meltdowns are far more reversible than they feel when temperatures rise. The basic principle behind any intervention is to interrupt the dance of death. The goal is to slow participants from generating new evidence to confirm mutual fears. Or even better, to engage them in generating disconfirming evidence - evidence that their fears are misplaced. [READ MORE]
    
2. The UK's top taxpayers are named. Stephen Rubin, a majority stakeholder in JD Sports, has been named the UK's top taxpayer by The Sunday Times. Denise Coates, the Bet365 boss, and Sir James Dyson make up the top three. The newspaper estimated the tax due on business profits, share sales, dividends, house purchases and personal income. The list also included Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley plus David and Victoria Beckham. The Sunday Times
    
3. One in 20 Brits do not believe the Holocaust happened. A survey has found that 5% of UK adults do not believe the Holocaust took place and one in 12 believes its scale has been exaggerated. Almost two-thirds of respondents either could not say how many Jews were murdered or “grossly” under-estimated the number. The poll was carried out by Opinion Matters for the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. Daily Mail
    
4. Nearly half commuters stressed out by journeys. A new survey has found that nearly half of those who commute to work by train are regularly stressed out by their journeys. A study of 3,994 commuters found thanks to train delays, 17% missed out on family time, 9% were disciplined at work and 6% said they had to spend more on childcare. Consumer distrust of the rail industry has grown from 27% to 32%. BBC
    
5. World's 26 richest own as much as poorest 50%. The planet’s 26 richest people own as much as the poorest 50%, according to Oxfam. The charity said the growing gap between rich and poor was hindering the fight against poverty. It pointed out that a wealth tax of just one percent would raise an estimated $418bn (£325bn) annually, which would be enough to educate every child not in school and provide healthcare that would prevent 3m deaths. The Guardian
    
6. UK cinemas enjoy best year since 1970. British cinemas had their best year since 1970 thanks to a combination of homegrown hits and Hollywood blockbusters. Britons visited cinemas 177m times in 2018. Tim Richards, chief executive of Vue, said he has “lived through the arrival of the DVD, Blu-ray discs, the internet and every time doomsayers have predicted the ultimate demise of the industry. But every time we have seen cinema do the opposite and grow”. The Independent
    
7. Genetic test to be offered for sale on NHS. The National Health Service is to charge healthy people to map their genetic code under plans to amass data on millions of Britons. Ministers will offer to sequence a person’s whole genome for around a few hundred pounds. The testing, which promises to predict the risk of cancer, dementia and other diseases such as Alzheimer’s, is already offered free to seriously ill patients. The Times
    
8. Real Madrid displace Man Utd in global rich league. Real Madrid has topped the table of the world's 20 richest football clubs, with record revenues of €750.9m (£674.6m). Previous leaders Manchester United slipped to third as Barcelona took second place. Deloitte said its Football Money League, based on season 2017-18, also shows the combined revenues of the top 20 clubs has risen 6% to €8.3bn (£7.4bn), a new record. Daily Telegraph
    
9. Rocking beds ‘promote better sleep in adults. A study has found that being rocked to sleep is not just effective for children: adults lying on a specially designed laboratory bed that rocked them gently throughout the night woke less often and slept more deeply. Volunteers wearing electrodes to record their brain waves spent three nights sleeping in the lab in Geneva. BBC
    
10. The bottom line. The value of a private jet owned by Gunhild Stordalen and her husband was revealed to be £20m [BBC]. The Norwegian former-model-turned-doctor has urged people to cut down on their meat consumption to save the planet. The hypocrisy of this is breathtaking. Editor