The New York Times is to begin charging for content within weeks - adopting the metered access model of the Financial Times. The Financial Times lets users view a few free articles every month before prompting for a subscription.

It's not just us lowly consumers that get price gouged by businesses fixing prices amongst themselves. I was delighted to hear Nokia, the phone manufacturer, thinks it too has been a victim. Well, not delighted, just happy to know I'm not the only gullible schmuck in the world.

Is Dubai broke? The tiny middle east country that has brought us the Burj Dubai (Tallest building on earth), the Burj al Arab (Hotel shaped like a sail), The World (a collection of man-made islands built like the world) and the Palm Islands (yet more man made islands) has proposed to investors that it should delay debt payments.

If you are looking to bribe government officials in return for them keeping their nose out of your gross human rights breaches, environmental pollution, contempt for planning laws and a blind eye to your non payement of tax, then it's best you make a bee-line for Somalia, Afghanistan or even Myanmar. They've just been found to be the most corrupt countries on earth by Transparency International in a survey carried out every year.