The Spectator

Dyeing and dying A teacher in Harrow complained to his MP that he had been banned from marking pupils’ work in red ink in case it upset them. Some origins of ink: Black Made from burned bones, tar and pitch in India by the 4th century BC. Made from soot in China by the 3rd century BC. Red Blood was used in medieval England (red ink from blood is said to have been used by poor monasteries; hence its association with debt). Made with brazilwood from the 16th century in Europe. Blue Made from various vitreous pigments added to black ink in 11th-century Europe. Purple Made in ancient Tyre, in the 7th century BC, from a secretion of shellfish. Epidemic of fear Eight hundred people in the Swansea area contracted measles in a now rare epidemic of a once universal disease.

What have obesity, misbehaving banks, unaffordable London housing and farting cows all got in common? They are all problems which, according to various campaigners over the past week or so, can be cured through the imposition of new taxes. Those calling for fiscal therapy included the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, which suggested a 20 per cent levy on sugary drinks, the Liberal Democrats, who want wealthy home-owners to be subjected to a new mansion tax, and the Swedish Board of Agriculture, which wants a levy on meat to reduce methane production from livestock.