Free Republic

Today, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the English writer, Charles Dickens. His best known work, is his 1843 novel, "A Christmas Carol", which featured a greedy, selfish, and heartless businessman, Ebenezer Scrooge. The businessman was visited by three ghosts, from the past, present, and future, who forced him to reconsider his selfish ways. In the 1980s, the satirical Mad Magazine featured caricatures of Republican politicians praising Scrooge as a hard working businessman who created jobs for the Victorian economy. He refused to give people time off to spend Christmas with their families, which made him a...

A SCIENTIST from Blantyre is playing a key part in solving one of the world’s most famous mysteries ... the identity of serial killer Jack the Ripper. Last week, Professor Ian Findlay (39), who grew up in Station Road, and now works in Australia, was in London to test traces of saliva on stamps attached to letters sent to police at the time they were trying to catch the notorious murderer. Ian has developed DNA identification technology called Cell-Track ID at Brisbane forensic laboratory, Gribbles Molecular Science, which can extract and compile a DNA fingerprint from a single cell or...