The US adopted decimal dollars hundreds of years ago and the UK clung to pounds-shillings-pence-farthings until 1976(?) Hardly anyone but older Britons can even imagine how to divide a bill for 7 Pounds, 5 Shillings and five Pence among three diners, or the painful calculations involved.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Magazine | Should we simplify spelling?

The old man was hardly a revolutionary, but he did become more radical as he grew older, getting close to the future black leaders.

ECONOMIST: Sir Garfield Todd

Sadly, none of this can be retrofitted into older devices, but the good news is that it's hardly limited to mobiles.

ENGADGET: Qualcomm's FlashLinq long-range peer-to-peer communications tech demoed at MWC (video)

The two older liberal parties, Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces (SPS), have hardly fared better.

ECONOMIST: A floundering opposition

The UK would suddenly be free to set its own agenda again and would hardly be more isolated than it was in the 1950s and 1960s, which happened to be years that older Britons remember with particular fondness.

FORBES: Horsemeat for Dinner, Banksters under the Bed, and the Future of the Human Condition