Buying a brand-new car is the ultimate good deed
The Department for Transport recently ended a £1,500 subsidy towards the price of new, lower-priced electric cars one year earlier…
Working from home could have been the reset we needed
‘It is vital that we see a return to face-to-face meetings to foster the dynamic collaboration that creates breakthrough ideas.’…
Why sat navs are a conversation killer
When my daughters learned to drive, I suggested they take their tests in automatics as driving manual cars would soon…
My solution to unfair traffic fines
My driveway now lies in the middle of an ‘Average Speed Check Zone’. It’s a wonderful arrangement – for me…
My plan to cut congestions on our roads
Much of the current antipathy towards the car derives from the excessive influence Londoners exert over national debates. London is…
How to watch YouTube on your TV – and why you should
According to Pliny the Elder, Scipio Aemilianus was the first man to shave daily. The origin of the name Boeing…
Should the young pay less tax than the old?
In evolutionary terms, it is obvious why we get more conservative with age. Two strong forces, acting in the same…
The link between motorway service stations and shortages of PPE
I spend quite a lot of time attacking what I call ‘motorway service station’ path design. More attentive readers of…
How to post a parcel without leaving your house
Here’s a useful tip. Go to the Royal Mail websiteand you can ask your postman to collect letters or parcels…
Why restaurant food at home beats eating out
‘The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be…
The myth of the typical Brexit voter
In Jake’s Thing, Kingsley Amis gave it a name: he called it ‘the inverted pyramid of piss’: ‘One of [Geoffrey…
Is it really such a shock that some people drink at work?
Thirteen years ago we shared an office building with a large international bank. A common lift connected both businesses to…
Things you didn’t know you needed
The explosion in remote and flexible working accelerated by the pandemic slightly supports my assertion that the most important limits…
Everyone should be sick in the street once
I learned a great deal at university, about half of it from a man called Raymond Foulk. Ray was not…
Why you shouldn’t always ‘follow the science’
Fairly early in the pandemic it was widely accepted in scientific circles that the likelihood of outdoor transmission of Covid…
The key to happiness? Getting behind the wheel
A friend of mine recently visited a company in Europe which plans to manufacture human-carrying, pilotless drones. These would be…
How men’s wardrobes prove constraints can be good for us
One thing that surprised every-one during lockdown was how many people derived unexpected pleasure from living under imposed restrictions. Can…
The problem with online property searches
In 1966, the legendary adman David Ogilvy set out to buy a home in France. He boarded a transatlantic liner…
The case for dodging cracks in the pavement
It is interesting to consider what would have happened if the Covid virus had emerged in 1921. Or 1821. Or…
How do we calculate the value of a painting?
There’s an intriguing conversation on YouTube between Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England, and the artist Damien…
The economic case for flexible working
Is flexible working better or worse for productivity? What is the correct blend of remote and office work? Billions of…
Why no one wants their holiday to last forever
I have been on holiday for two weeks. Well, not quite. You see, a bloke I once met told me…
Why cocktails are superior to wine
I often argue that, in theory at least, well-made cocktails are indisputably better than wines costing 20 times more. My…
What do oven chips have to do with virtue signalling?
Why does virtue-signalling matter? It’s a fair question. After all, if people display virtuous behaviour, need we care about their…
The CV trick that guarantees you an interview
Sometimes the opposite of a good idea is, as Niels Bohr said, another good idea. But the converse is also…
