He said in a policy speech on Friday that his Liberal government would introduce legislation as early as 2016 to legalize marijuana, making Canada the first in the G7 bloc of industrialized nations to do so, although precise details remain sketchy.

Two in three Canadians support decriminalizing possession and use of the mind-altering weed, according to a recent Ipsos poll. Support is widespread and at its highest level in three decades, it said, even though cannabis use has fallen off. Details of the Liberal plan haven't yet been released. However, it is expected to go much further by not only legalizing marijuana but also creating a regulated market for it, as Uruguay and a few US states have done.

An estimated one million out of Canada's 35 million people regularly smoke marijuana, according to the latest survey taken in 2014.

Corab, which includes pillars of the establishment like Baroness Butler-Sloss, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, former head of the Muslim Council of Britain, and Lord Williams, better known as the former Archbishop of Canterbury, says that Britain has seen “a general decline” in its Christian affiliation, and the time has come for public life to take on “a more pluralist character”.

Only two in five British people now “identify” as Christian, and the commission wants a new settlement for religion in the UK. Major state occasions should be changed to be “more inclusive”. “Socially divisive” faith schools must be phased out. The number of bishops in the House of Lords should be cut to make way for other religions, the law requiring schools to hold a collective act of worship should be scrapped.

Apart from God help us, two thoughts occur to me. Firstly, if Corab gets its way, British children will never become familiar with the Judaeo-Christian religion which underpins 2,000 years of Western civilisation; if you banish it from schools, they will certainly not get it at home. And the stories and attendant values which those of us over the age of 40 take for granted will be lost. Sadly, you have to conclude that this is exactly what those hand-wringing members of the liberal establishment want.

Second? We probably have 10 years tops before we stop greeting each other with the unpluralist “Happy Christmas”. A Nativity play, should such a regressive, sexist construct be allowed to exist in 2025, will probably begin with a four-year-old Angel Gabriel reading out a disclaimer: “The baby Jesus was meek and mild, but unfortunately he does raise major questions around gender and ethnicity. If you are affected by any of the issues in this Nativity play, please call the free helpline, Offended Anonymous, or speak to Mrs Michaels, the Head of Non-Religious Transgender Studies.”

In this new, secularist Britain, you will still be allowed to buy a Norwegian spruce to decorate, but it will be called a “holiday tree”. There’s not much that makes me want to run amok, but the spectacle of eminent judges and religious leaders signing the death warrant of Christianity in these isles is just intolerable.

It is literally beyond belief. Hands off our faith schools! Hands off our Christmas! At this most unsettling of times, we want public life to have a character that is deeply familiar and comforting; we need our traditions more than ever.

The superbugs were found in 15% of raw meat samples in China, as well as a fifth of the animals tested. Colistin had also failed in 16 patients infected with drug-resistant infections. Now a patient in Denmark has been diagnosed with an untreatable form of salmonella, scientists from George Washington University (GWU) and the Statens Serum Institute (SSI) and National Food Institute (NFI) in Denmark announced Friday. In addition, they also found untreatable bacteria in 5 samples of chicken imported from China through Germany.

The Antibiotic Resistance Action Center in the Milken Institute School of Public Health at GWU, said in a statement to National Geographic: “The news that the dangerous colistin resistance gene has been found in Denmark is alarming. This newly identified gene, called MCR-1, is on a mobile piece of DNA that can make copies of itself and then jump to from bacterium to bacterium, spreading resistance.

History shows that these mobile resistance genes can spread around the world quickly, silently riding in people, animals, and food. The news that MCR-1 has been discovered in Denmark suggests that this scenario is playing out in real time.

UNITED KINGDOM

The video references last year’s Scottish independence referendum and burgeoning national movements in Wales and Northern Ireland as causes for concern over the future of the UK.

The author states that the Scots - who voted by 55% to 45% to stay in the union - “won’t give up their quest for independence so easily”.

They also say there are “simmering movements” in Wales and Northern Ireland - which both have their own parliaments - which could eventually lead to full autonomy.

They state: “If any of these regions were to gain autonomy from the UK it’s possible that the union may fall apart.”

UNITED STATES

In one of the fascinating suggestions, the author claims that the world’s most powerful nation could break apart within the next 20 years.

They reference the deeply felt north-south divide between the different states of America which has been entrenched since the civil war which led to the unification of the country.

The narrator says that Alaska and Texas are the two states most likely to leave the union, but adds that others could follow.

They warn: “Many of the divisions that caused the civil war in the US still exist to this day. If these deep-rooted political and cultural differences within the US aren’t rectified, it’s possible some states could break free within the next 20 years.”

Mr Schulz said: "No one can say whether the EU will still exist in this form in 10-years' time. If we want that then we need to fight very hard for it." He did not specify what exactly was threatening the EU but focused heavily on the migrant crisis, which has stretched Europe's unity and many of its member countries' tolerance this year.

The European Parliament head said the EU was not without alternatives and "could of course be reversed". He warned other options included a removal of the free-movement Schengen zone to a Europe in which nationalism, borders and walls were prevalent. Mr Schulz said: "That would be disastrous because that kind of Europe has repeatedly led our continent into catastrophe."

Divisions are rife within the EU over the thousands of migrants and refugees coming into Europe from war-torn countries such as Syria. One of the most notable is between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has led efforts to take in more Syrians, and leaders of the formerly Communist east who oppose EU schemes to make them take in more asylum seekers.

Denmark will therefore retain its "opt-out," obtained following its "No"-majority in a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty, in 1992. There is also little chance that Denmark will join a common EU foreign and military policy, in the near future, as favored by Berlin and Brussels. Because the single currency is perceived as the reason for Finland's economic crisis, that country's parliament will soon debate whether to hold a referendum on leaving the Euro zone.

Great Britain will hold a referendum on exiting the EU by 2017, at the latest, with already a majority in favor, according to recent polls. In the Netherlands, demands are being raised to reduce the Schengen Zone to a "mini-Schengen." Following the convulsions in Southern Europe, the EU project - the foundation of German global policy - is also beginning to crumble in the North.

Following the convulsions in the south, particularly in Greece, the EU project is now beginning to crumble, also in the north. This is also placing the foundations of Berlin's currently favored variation of global policy in jeopardy. Currently, the unity within the EU that Berlin is calling for seems more uncertain than ever.

Nothing is decided yet. The second, decisive round of this regional election will take place next Sunday – and voters’ behaviour can change between the two rounds. However, Front National does really look close to a breakthrough. The party has never governed a French region. Securing control of even just one of them would already be an unprecedented achievement.

Significantly, the gains made by Front National cut across all types of regions – from the wealthy French Riviera to rural Burgundy. The industrial Northern region (now merged with Picardy), where Marine Le Pen herself is standing as candidate and won over 40 per cent of the vote in the first round, has been a stronghold of the Left since direct election of regional assemblies in France began in the 1980s.

There are several reasons behind the surge of Front National – and dissatisfaction with Europe is one of them. According to the European Commission’s latest Eurobarometer survey, only 32 per cent of French trust the EU – compared to 51 per cent who do not. Given that Front National is far from an isolated case – anti-euro, anti-EU and anti-establishment parties are on the rise pretty much everywhere in Europe – one of the key lessons from this French regional election is that sweeping reform of the EU cannot wait any longer.

I wonder whether a similar point of capitulation has now been reached for commodity prices, which this week hit renewed post-crisis lows, and for the prevailing view on interest rates, which posits that despite the virtual certainty of a quarter-point rate rise from the US Federal Reserve next week, the cost of money will remain ultra-low for a very long time to come.

Even those hold-outs once loudly warning that profligate central bank money printing would lead inevitably to higher inflation, and therefore to a calamitous rise in interest rates, seem to have given up and now accept the prevailing narrative of “secular stagnation” as the established way of things.

Investors should take care. Group think can be a dangerous thing. And low interest rates stretching out into the long-term future are very much the prevailing narrative right now. Conventional wisdom has a nasty habit of being proved wrong just when you least expect it.

For months, I have been warning that the crash in the price of oil would be extremely deflationary and would have severe consequences for the global economy. Nations such as Japan, Canada, Brazil and Russia have already plunged into recession, and more than half of all major global stock market indexes are down at least 10 percent year to date. The first major global financial crisis since 2009 has begun, and things are only going to get worse as we head into 2016.

The global head of oil research at Societe Generale, Mike Wittner, says that his “head is spinning” after the stunning drop in the price of oil on Monday. Just like during the last financial crisis, we have broken the psychologically important 40 dollar barrier, and there are concerns that we could go much lower from here…

One analyst told CNBC that he believes that we could soon see the price of US oil go all the way down to 32 dollars a barrel…Analysts at Goldman Sachs are even more pessimistic than that. According to Business Insider, they are saying that we could eventually see the price of oil go below 20 dollars a barrel…

That may sound really good to you, especially if you fill up your gas tank frequently. But the truth is that plunging oil prices are exceedingly bad for the US economy as a whole. In recent years, the energy industry has been the primary engine for the creation of good jobs in this country, and now those firms are having to lay off people at a frightening pace.

Indeed – the party is coming to an end, and a new financial crisis is playing out in textbook fashion right in front of our eyes. Hopefully you are already prepared for what is coming next, because it is going to be extremely painful for the US economy.

“I fear he may have made things worse in the minds of many Americans.” Rubio said “nothing that happened in the speech … is going to assuage people’s fears,” Breitbart reported. He slammed Obama for using ISIS and the war on terrorism as a means of pressing his own gun-control agenda, and said the White House has done nothing to adjust policy or strategy in recent months in response to the expansion of the terror group. He also criticized the president for suggesting America was guilty of bias against Muslims.

“We are at war with a radical jihadist group more capable than any terrorist group this nation has ever confronted,” Rubio said. “Where is there widespread evidence that we have a problem in America with discrimination against Muslims? … This is nothing but an effort to use this issue of terrorism as another way to try to push their agenda that they’ve been dying to push for the longest amount of time, and that’s gun control.”

Several sheriffs have sent out warnings in the wake of the recent Islamic terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, Mali and San Bernardino that Americans, now more than ever, need to get armed. The first was Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona who on December 1 called for 250,000 armed citizens to stop terrorism and mass shootings in Arizona. This represents the number of concealed carry permit holders in Arizona. “I’m just talking about the areas where you have large crowds and someone pulls out the gun and starts shooting. Maybe somebody with a concealed weapon takes the guy down,” Arpaio told a local CBS affiliate.

Then came Ulster County Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum of upstate New York. In a December 3 Facebook post following the deadly jihadist attack on San Bernardino, he said the county’s 10,000 residents who have concealed-carry handgun permits should use them. “In light of recent events that have occurred in the United States and around the world I want to encourage citizens of Ulster County who are licensed to carry a firearm to please do so,” Van Blarcum said in his Facebook post.

“I urge you to responsibly take advantage of your legal right to carry a firearm. To ensure the safety of yourself and others, make sure you are comfortable and proficient with your weapon, and knowledgeable of the laws in New York State with regards to carrying a weapon and when it is legal to use it.”

David Lambon, who is the first lay headmaster at one of the UK’s top fee-paying Roman Catholic schools, said that instead schools should equip pupils with values that will guide them through the vicissitudes of life. Private schools have rushed to embrace mindfulness as a way to help pupils cope with the growing pressures of academia: from getting top grades to being bullied.

There is evidence the practice boosts the brain and it helps teenagers embrace self-control and resist peer pressure. However, in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Lambon said: “Mindfulness has its place and young people do have a lot of stress these days. They need to be very resilient. I am not sure mindfulness is the only answer. There are alternatives.”

Mr Lambon isn't the first one to spot a flaw in mindfulness. Theodore Zeldin, an Oxford University academic, has said too many people were avoiding using their brains and instead escaping into a state of blank mental oblivion.

It was almost as if the reporters conducted breaking and entering of sorts. “This is all just to keep us busy while they do other more important things,” the video’s narrator said. “If they were ISIS terrorists then um I would think that the crime scene would be a lot more important than a scene where maybe there was a body found. If anything they would have been equal,” the voice on the video stated.

“It’s just mind-boggling.” The FBI literally left behind shredded documents, a check, passports, and other important evidence that definitely would have been included in a real investigation. And to top it all off reporters were allowed to roam free while broadcasting live on air through an active crime scene. This is just ludicrous people. There is something wrong here.

But that isn't the most interesting thing he said during a House of Lords debate. First, he acknowledged that air strikes might, among other results, fan the flames of religious zealotry, not just in the ranks of Islamic State but further afield. He also called for a "challenge" to the Gulf monarchies and their propagation of a hard-line version of Islam from which terrorists could draw inspiration.

He wasn't saying that those countries directly or consciously fuel terrorism, but it is still a bold statement from a member of the British establishment. Archbishop Welby is not over-stating the case, he is simply stating it, rather obliquely and politely. And it is a case that needs to be stated.