Just five per cent of those polled ate every meal at the table, compared with 13 per cent of those who ate at least one meal a day there. A spokesperson from NetVoucherCodes.co.uk, who conducted the research commented: ‘Compared to 40 years ago, we now live in a society which moves at an extremely fast pace. Often, breakfast has to be eaten on the go, and in many cases so does lunch. Also, with people working longer hours, a quick ready meal or a takeaway in front of the TV is the easiest option.’

One final respondent said of the poll: ‘I am really worried that my children are growing up in a society where eating meals at the table is something special and not the norm. What does it say about family life in this country if all we can do at meal times is sit and watch the television while stuffing our faces.’

Now, however, the military is developing an alarming new interest in the human body and brain. It wants to create armies of mutant soldiers, equipped with unstoppable physical and mental powers. Within 30 years, according to newly released Ministry of Defence papers, British soldiers should be able to lift huge weights, run at high speeds over extreme distances, have infra-red night vision built into their brains, and even be capable of transmitting thoughts by electronically aided telepathy.

And this is not just pie-in-the-sky planning. Science is now emerging that may make these army dreams real. A recent Freedom of Information request revealed details of a two-day future-gazing summit by the MoD’s obscure Development Concepts and Doctrine Centre, where military spooks swapped ideas with experts from universities, industry and government.

The summit concluded that by 2045, advances in medical technology could create a class of genetically superior humans — rather like the super-powered science fiction characters Wolverine, Storm and Rogue from Marvel Comics.

Every six weeks or so, they gather in Basel, Switzerland, for secret discussions and, to an extent at least, they act in concert. The decisions that emerge from those meetings affect the entire world. And yet the broad public has a dim understanding, if any, of the job they do.

In fact, these individuals now wield at least as much influence over the lives of ordinary citizens as prime ministers and presidents. The tool they have used to change the world so profoundly is one they alone possess: creating money out of thin air. There is an economic term for this: quantitative easing. More colloquially, it's called printing money.

Since the great economic meltdown in 2008, these central bankers have probably saved the world's economy from collapse, and dragged it into the unknown at the same time. The amounts they have created are so vast as to be almost incomprehensible — trillions of dollars in pounds and euros, among other currencies.

“Italy is dying from fiscal consolidation. Growth policies cannot wait any longer,” he told Italy’s parliament. He said the country is in “very serious” crisis after a decade of stagnation and warned of violent protest if the social malaise deepens. The grand coalition of Left and Right - the first since the late 1940s - will abolish the hated IMU tax on primary residences, a wealth levy imposed by ex-premier Mario Monti, and push for tax cuts for business and young people to pull the country out of perma-slump. A rise in VAT to 22 percent in July may be delayed.

Vice-premier Angelo Alfano - the appointee of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi - said he agreed with every word from “beginning to end”, as the Berlusconi camp claimed “total victory” over the policy agenda. Mr Letta said Italy would abide by EU budget pledges but in reality he seems to have broken with the core demands of the EU fiscal compact.

Some homes that were destroyed along shore towns in New Jersey still look as they did the day after the storm: piles of rubble and kindling, with the occasional bathroom fixture or personal possession visible among the detritus. The cost of the damage wrecked by Sandy has been estimated at $50 billion (£32 billion), second only to the $108 billion (£70 billion) caused by Hurricane Katrina in Gulf Coast states in 2005.

US Congress approved more than $60 billion (£39 billion) in storm aid for Sandy victims and their communities.

Rosemarie Smead is one of about 150 women around the world who have decided not to wait for the Roman Catholic Church to lift its ban on women priests, but to be ordained and start their own congregations. In an interview before the ceremony, Smead said she is not worried about being excommunicated from the Church - the fate of other women ordained outside of Vatican law.

"It has no sting for me," said Smead, a petite, gray-haired former Carmelite nun with a ready hug for strangers. "It is a Medieval bullying stick the bishops used to keep control over people and to keep the voices of women silent. I am way beyond letting octogenarian men tell us how to live our lives."

The ordination of women as priests, along with the issues of married priests and birth control, represents one of the big divides between US Catholics and the Vatican hierarchy. Seventy percent of US Catholics believe that women should be allowed to be priests, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll earlier this year.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said this is one of the most terrifying things I have ever seen. Spain needs shock therapy for its labor markets, but that's an impossible political sell when more than a quarter of the population is unemployed. In an ideal world, Spain would pair major reforms with major stimulus; in the real world, it will drag its feet on reforms, try to cut its deficit, and fall deeper into depression.

Here's the story of Spanish unemployment in three acts. During the boom, joblessness was relatively high due to persistent structural problems. Then it shot up fast and faster as Spain's building bust and then Lehmangeddon hit in 2008. But it has kept climbing up since the panic abated, albeit at a less catastrophic pace, due to the toxic combination of too tight money and budgets.

It's hard to see anything resembling a case for optimism. In other words, austerity hasn't been the path to prosperity. It's been the path to perma-slump. Let me leave you with this, well, depressing question: Assuming everything goes perfectly, how long will it be till Spanish unemployment gets below 20 percent?

Don't answer that.

"We need more cameras, and we need them now," ran a Slate headline. Representative Peter King (Republican for New York) agrees. In an interview the day after the bombings with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, he called for more video surveillance so that we can "stay ahead of the terrorists." "So yes, I do favor more cameras," said King, who sits on the US House Homeland Security and Intelligence committees and has also called for increased monitoring of Muslim Americans. "They're a great law enforcement method and device. And again, it keeps us ahead of the terrorists, who are constantly trying to kill us."

Law enforcement officials in New York are almost certain to oblige. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly wants to "increase significantly" the amount of surveillance equipment in Manhattan, which already has one of the country's most robust systems.

Turkey and SCO signed a memorandum of understanding in the Kazakh city of Almaty. Davutoglu, who was on a formal visit to Kazakhstan met with Secretary General of the SCO Dmitri Mezentsev, and signed the MoU in regards to the cooperation to be carried out between Turkey and the organization as “dialogue partners.”

“Today we announce that as Turkey, our destiny is the same as those states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization,” Davutoglu said following the signing ceremony. “The partnership would strengthen Turkey’s ties with the organization especially in the fields of economy and transportation, and would provide the opportunity of collectively fighting against threats,” Davutoglu added.