At just 22, Philbrook has built a nice business for himself, mining the access void left by the big, national flat-rate providers like America Online.

FORBES: Mom-and-pop Internet

The truth is the ISP business is characterized by wafer-thin margins, low barriers to entry, flat-rate pricing, intense national competition and high customer support costs.

FORBES: Mom-and-pop Internet

In reality, America's incarceration rate increased nearly ten fold between 1973 and 2000 at a time when, according to the Census Bureau's National Crime Victimisation Survey, the crime rate was relatively flat or falling.

ECONOMIST: America behind bars

Mr Salmond's big test will come in 2010, when he hopes to abolish council tax completely and replace it with a local income tax levied at a flat rate of 3p in each pound of basic-rate national income tax due.

ECONOMIST: Scottish budget