Barometer
Beyond a joke Is it time to rewrite an old joke? A letter published in Time in 1963 suggested that…
A cut above
The fine art of snubbing
A nose of wet chihuahua
Some decades ago, there was a Tory MP called John Stokes: eventually, and deservedly, Sir John. He had no interest…
2597: A couple
Five unclued lights are connected with one partner, four with the other. Another links both. Across 1 Nervous about yarn…
The case for slow change
Some excellent thinking this month from the Italian complexity theorist Luca Dellanna: Two days ago, the EU parliament approved a…
Whose image is it anyway?
On Monday, a bill was passed by the National Assembly in France that will give courts the power to prevent…
Redrawing the map
In the world of chess politics, the map has been redrawn. Russia is now officially in Asia, and no longer…
Erdogan’s rival
Could a mild-mannered economist put an end to the Turkish leader’s 20-year rule?
Censory deprivation
Chinese AIs may be limited by the need to control what they say
A day in a small town in the Andes
In the language of the Mapuche people of Patagonia, futa (I’m told) means ‘river’ and leufú means ‘big’. So Spanish–speaking…
The high price of low interest rates
You’ll recall that I’ve railed for years against zero interest rates, which transplanted a cancerous marrow into the very bones…
Moving home
The ebb and flow of life on a houseboat
Far out
The James Webb space telescope and the search for alien life
The joke is on America
I was brought up on Dan Quayle jokes. You know the ones – like the gag that the then vice-president…
Letters
Uncertain times Sir: Kate Andrews’s article on the era of economic certainty (‘Crash test’, 18 March) is not the first…
The killer next door
What I learned growing up in the murder capital of Wales
