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We don’t need more technology, we need better technology
I’d like to propose a new scientific institution: the IUT, or Institute of Underrated Technology. Rather than trying to invent…
Why HS2 doesn’t stand up to the test of time
In past years, I have been a critic of HS2. I might now change my mind. One simple tweak might…
Why it’s so much easier not to speak to people
I recently saw a series of photographs depicting a rural home in China. Pride of place in a grimly furnished…
Identity is just as important as wealth. Why don’t economists get that?
It has become commonplace for news reports to refer to almost any civic unrest, or even unusual patterns of voting,…
The most underpriced Christmas gift you can buy
During the second Gulf war, simply out of curiosity, I found myself visiting the website of a giant American mercenary…
Technology wastes as much time as it saves
I have just spent a weekend planning a family trip to Chennai and Hyderabad. Since some of the flights are…
Trump may have a point about fake news
In recent years, much scrutiny has been paid to the workings of social media algorithms. Driven by escalating competition for…
Sending more people to uni isn’t the answer
Imagine a world where employers judged applicants solely on their dress. Anyone in frayed clothes or scuffed shoes would never…
John McDonnell’s right – the four-day week could work
Most people were scandalised by John McDonnell’s proposal to promote a four-day working week. But before we get incensed about…
A non-stop flight to Perth showed me that better beats bigger
A few weeks ago I flew to Sydney to speak at a conference. The first leg was on the new…
Markets are clever precisely because people are silly
A month ago I wanted to travel to Bath for a 60th birthday party. From Kent, this either involves a…
Silicon Valley’s weird ideas on how to improve human life
Which is more diverse: London or Devon? That’s not a trick question. London is much more diverse than Devon. But…
Watch out comrade: big business is turning communist
Is it me, or is business becoming a teeny-weeny bit Stalinist? Common features include 1) Paranoia about political ideology; 2)…
Why data doesn’t always reveal the truth
In late 1973 the graduate admissions department at UC Berkeley discovered that for the forthcoming year it had awarded places…
There is nothing that makes you more anxious than being rich
H.L. Mencken once said that a rich man is anyone who earns more than his wife’s sister’s husband. The anthropologist…
When it comes to new technology, we’re all Luddites at heart
When I saw my first jogger in Wales in the early 1970s, I assumed he was running away from the…
It doesn’t matter how hard you work – just how busy you look
The behavioural scientist Dan Ariely once found himself chatting to a locksmith with a curious problem. The better he became…
Is taste all in the mind? Louse crap says it is
An Iranian friend of mine recently brought me some gaz from Isfahan. Commonly known as Persian nougat, gaz is perhaps…
Why human nature means most economic models are doomed from the start
History records many well conceived and apparently logical grand plans for the betterment of mankind. Sadly such ideas almost always…
London Bridge station: Netwór Krail’s £1 billion experiential artwork
In the shadow of the Shard, not far from Borough Market, is a £1 billion public artwork, an allegorical sculpture…
Forget your data – it’s your DNA privacy you should be worried about
Nearly ten years ago, a lorry driver known only as ‘Michael Harry K’ adopted an extreme response to combating what…
Could an Owl make video conferencing take off?
When I was ten, the two things we all expected to enjoy by 2020 were flying cars and videotelephony. What…
Where’s the internet revolution they promised us?
At the risk of sounding like Jean Baudrillard, I would like to suggest that the internet revolution has not yet…
Had 533 people voted differently, the Tories would have a full majority
Nine years ago, before Cambridge Analytica existed, I caught wind of a research project at Cambridge involving the online measurement…
ISA and pension limits discourage ordinary people from saving
The maximum amount you can save in an ISA for the tax year 2017-2018 is now £20,000. The maximum annual…
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