London falling
The recent debate around ‘levelling up’ may be missing something. I would argue that there is another way to consider…
Maths problems
Recently Chinese 11-year-olds faced the following question in a maths exam. ‘If a ship has 26 sheep and ten goats…
Beware the digital revolution
It is often said that Rishi Sunak has no idea what it is like to survive on a low income…
Fare treatment
In early 2020 my family and I were due to fly home from visiting a friend in Oman when the…
What the media is doing to our politics
An American academic told me that during the 2016 presidential election nobody in academia believed there was the faintest chance…
Delights to behold
If you were to ask which single business concept deserves to be more widely known, I would be hard-pressed to…
Southeastern’s on the wrong track
A few years ago I wrote here about the unexpected symbiosis between economy passengers and business travellers on commercial flights.…
The genius of bottomless brunch
I’m rather fond of the many service stations on the M4, since I am convinced they are all named after…
Hasty assumptions
In 2015, Holborn Underground station was suffering from serious overcrowding at peak hours, with a bottleneck forming in the space…
Time to think about holidays
Having returned from a fortnight’s break, I wonder if we get holidays all wrong. In northern Europe, the custom is…
London’s number is up
Some years ago, an Australian neurologist was in the habit of walking barefoot across his lawn. This being Australia, the…
The danger of Dylanomics
The problem with attempts to make everything in life more scientific is that reality hates generalisation. You can try to…
The beauty of ‘theft-tanks’
The Conservative party leadership contest is a milestone for diversity and inclusion. This time, we get to choose between someone…
What’s in my frunk?
Hello, and welcome to episode one of What’s in My Frunk?, the first in an occasional Spectator series of news…
The happiness paradox
In the 1980s, the great advertising writer John Webster described the following paradox. As he saw it, the dream of…
Why secondhand cars are first-rate
The Department for Transport recently ended a £1,500 subsidy towards the price of new, lower-priced electric cars one year earlier…
Not everything has to be a trade-off
‘It is vital that we see a return to face-to-face meetings to foster the dynamic collaboration that creates breakthrough ideas.’…
End of the road
When my daughters learned to drive, I suggested they take their tests in automatics as driving manual cars would soon…
Signs of the times
My driveway now lies in the middle of an ‘Average Speed Check Zone’. It’s a wonderful arrangement – for me…
The hidden cost of parked cars
Much of the current antipathy towards the car derives from the excessive influence Londoners exert over national debates. London is…
Heart’s content
According to Pliny the Elder, Scipio Aemilianus was the first man to shave daily. The origin of the name Boeing…
The price of youth
In evolutionary terms, it is obvious why we get more conservative with age. Two strong forces, acting in the same…
How to create a bottleneck
I spend quite a lot of time attacking what I call ‘motorway service station’ path design. More attentive readers of…
Monopoly rules
Here’s a useful tip. Go to the Royal Mail websiteand you can ask your postman to collect letters or parcels…
Making a meal of it
‘The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be…
