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With flexible working hours gaining acceptance among British companies, Keith Mayes takes a look at working habits in the US. There, the trend is towards a four‐day week, which supporters claim increases output and cuts absenteeism. As Mayes notes, ‘it is more costly to lose a quarter of one's pay than a fifth’.

With the IR Act still the subject of seething discontent among Britain's trade unionists, Keith Mayes takes a timely look at the US Taft‐Hartley laws, aimed at putting a rein on the power of organised labour. He reports that they have fallen largely into disuse as more and more workers—among them professional people hitherto against the idea of unions—see the need for collective strength.

The Middle East war has placed the U.S. on the horns of a dilemma—how to pursue a traditional support for Israel without offending oil supplying Arab states. But any change in American‐Israeli relations will trigger brutal divisiveness, reports Keith Mayes.

With the near certainty of tougher legislation governing the securities business, and mounting competition from ‘off‐board’ trading, the New York Stock Exchange is struggling to maintain its prestige and authority, reports Keith Mayes.

With equal pay likely to be a leading issue at the next General Election, Keith Mayes reports on the penalties for job discrimination in the US.

In a whole range of industries, from steel to printing, there is growing harmony between US management and unions, reports Keith Mayes. With the country's economic system under pressure, both sides acknowledge the futility of lengthy stoppages.

President Nixon's economic advisers have been so wrong so often, critics are now questioning whether they suffer from aphasia — “the partial or total loss of the ability to articulate ideas in any form.” Keith Mayes reports.

‘The American Gas Company once deleted any reference whatsoever to “gas” or “ovens” in an explanation of Buchenwald,’… Keith Mayes reports from New York on round‐the‐clock television.

To gain access to one of America's toll‐roads you must first throw the appropriate coins into a basket at steering wheel height. Then a traffic light changes from red to green, and the toll‐machine flashes the words ‘Thank you’ in your direction. From seeming fear that the machine may feel that its courtesy is unappreciated, there is now a gadget on the market. For $39.95 you can become the proud possessor of an electronic device which attaches to the front of a car and accepts the toll‐booth's gratitude with the words ‘You're welcome’.

Americans like the House of Lords. Consequently, it showed a good sense of touch to appoint Lord Cromer as Ambassador to the United States. The Baring family have a history of association with America; one helped finance Thomas Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon. Another, Lord Ashburton, expedited the negotiations over the New Brunswick‐Maine border by forwarding almost £3,000 to Secretary of State Daniel Webster. The resultant Webster‐Ashburton Treaty is recorded as ‘a diplomatic triumph—against Webster's own country’.