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Pope Francis has died
Yesterday, for only the second time in my lifetime, a serving Pope died. Remarkably, I’ve been blogging long enough that I wrote about the last one, too. A couple of years ago, I wondered whether Pope...
View ArticleA different fox hunt altogether
In the early days of this blog, the political debate around whether to ban fox hunting was a big deal. Those were, perhaps, simpler times. I think some would be surprised to read these days that I...
View ArticleWest End success
The FT had a lovely ‘long read’ by Daniel Thomas about the success of the West End last week: footfall is well above pre-pandemic levels and the industry is in rude financial health. But not so on...
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Evacuation order
It’s less than seven years since Wendy and I wandered along Hollywood Boulevard, comparing it—not entirely favourably—to Blackpool’s promenade. It’s astonishing, distressing, and tragic to think that,...
View ArticleFacts are sacred
It was covid that drove me off Facebook, but it perhaps wasn’t until nearly five years later that it left my mind entirely. Wendy and I were writing Christmas cards last month, and I—perhaps not fully...
View ArticleChoice and value
In 2008, about £1 in every £25 spent in a UK supermarket was spent in Lidl or Aldi. Today, it’s closer to £1 in every £5. These discounters have seen enormous growth, driven by a complex web of...
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Coming of age
The Twentieth Century Society is currently running the first iteration of what it intends to become an annual campaign highlighting exceptional buildings which are turning thirty years old. Buildings...
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Cascading sets
Yesterday, in the context of the first passenger service of the new Metro train, I said: with the UK’s public realm and infrastructure suffering from long term under-investment, it looks like we’ll be...
View ArticleThe artifical intellgience wall
A lot has been written recently about the development of artificial intelligence tools hitting a wall: that is, we’re reaching a point where the pace of improvement in models has slowed considerably....
View ArticleFocus
There are few things more likely to make my eyes roll than the headline: Wallace’s response to MasterChef claims was misogynistic, says No 10 The fact that a television presenter has made people feel...
View ArticleDemedicalising death
Wendy and I were both struck by the measured tone of this week’s Parliamentary debate on assisted dying. It’s a complicated topic. To me, the starting point is certainly that assisted death should be...
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Californian taxis, gun ownership and democracy
A couple of days ago, Wendy and I took a taxi from our hotel in San Diego to the airport, very kindly paid for by our hotel. The taxi driver was a chatty fellow and struck up the traditional “going to...
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Crossing the US-Mexico border
Yesterday, while Wendy was busy presenting at an international conference, I crossed the border from California to Tijuana to go exploring. From San Diego, this was very straightforward. The Blue Line...
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The BBC ruins the UK’s chances at Eurovision
Tonight, it’s the grand final of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. As long-time readers will know, I really enjoy watching Eurovision – I even live blogged the UK selection programme once. There are a...
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When public health measures pass me by
In this morning’s Monocle Minute, there was a fascinating bit about a public health measure in Pakistan which had completely passed me by: Pakistan’s Punjab province has taken an intriguing step to...
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The credulity of most Apple coverage
Over my cornflakes this morning, I read Ben Hoyle’s interview with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, in The Times Magazine. This was one of those interviews which is sort of interesting but doesn’t really say...
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How much would you pay to keep using Google?
The Economist’s data team has today published a blog post called “How much would you pay to keep using Google?” Unusually for The Economist, the headline isn’t really an accurate representation of the...
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‘Inappropriate’ A&E attendances
A couple of years ago, I wrote a post for the Fuse Open Science Blog about the system failures which lead to patients ‘inappropriately’ presenting at A&E, and how this is often blamed on patients...
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Some thoughts on print newspapers
When people who otherwise know me and Wendy very well come round to our house, they not infrequently express surprise at newspapers lying around the place. But, whatever others might think, both Wendy...
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Why the Cambridge Analytica story is a warning to Sky
Over the past week or so, Cambridge Analytica and Facebook have barely been out of the news. The central thrust of the story is that people consented to share information with Facebook and apps hosted...
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