Perhaps, but watching closely my more spontaneous reactions and half-conscious thoughts, I can't help thinking that I too have a share in the part of human nature that is inclining towards evil.

BBC: Read with us on World Book Day

Compassion in World Farming, a lobby group, says that half the sheep killed in France are conscious when their throats are slit.

ECONOMIST: Seal hunting

As a result, the patient remains fully conscious throughout surgery and goes home within half an hour, instead of being an inpatient for two to three days if they had been given a general anaesthetic.

BBC: Pain relief 'revolution' for operations in Swansea

The lucky half who escaped that fate are a group apart, although they have not formed a self-conscious, American-style black middle class.

ECONOMIST: Black Britons finally break into dreary neighbourhoods

It has reduced its bad bank loans by more than half, and reoriented the financial and other sectors to more of a profit-driven, shareholder-conscious way of doing business.

FORBES: Magazine Article