The Wiki Man
Want to know how AI will rules our lives? Look to speed cameras
Devotees of radio traffic reports will be familiar with ‘Crittall’s Corner’. Along with the nearby Sun in the Sands roundabout,…
There is a logic to a tourist tax
As if our hospitality industry hadn’t experienced enough government abuse, last month saw yet another blow: permission for cities to…
The property market has become a Ponzi scheme
Back in 1990, when my wife and I were buying our first flat in London, I was writing advertising copy…
How the triple lock became political kryptonite
It was early December 1973 and I remember my grandmother asking, ‘What would you most like for Christmas?’ I knew…
Driverless cars must learn to drive like Brits
I’ve ridden in Waymo driverless taxis in both Miami and Austin and it is, as you would expect, a slightly…
The real reason dating apps are so flawed
My father once attended a dinner for 12 where an intense argument arose over splitting the bill. After 15 minutes,…
Throw away your keyboard
The older and more plutocratic among you may remember the unlamented business-class airline seat of the 1980s and 1990s. Every…
My top tips for Andy Burnham
I am cautiously optimistic about our new leader. For one thing, the fact that Mr Burnham went to Cambridge not…
How to save Britain’s train stations
As a more philosophical alternative to ‘You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps’, you occasionally…
Make men’s shorts socially acceptable
For a country which loves to talk about the weather, we do not do it very well. They order these…
In praise of Peter Murrell
When people ask me what my politics are, I have to explain that I support a dwindling faction you might…
Variety is the spice of evolutionary life
I would have enjoyed mathematics more at school if I’d known what the real value was. The benefit of studying…
A foolproof way to pick a leader
Our esteemed editor was once excoriated for saying that the public had had enough of experts. ‘The people of this…
The ‘airport effect’ that’s ruining modern life
The phrase ‘computer says no’ now has its own Wikipedia page. The first recorded use dates back to a Stasi-era…
The BBC’s shameful treatment of Top Cat
Films nowadays often come with warning of ‘smoking’, ‘partial nudity’, ‘drug use’ or something called ‘language’ (presumably to prevent alarming…
The real reason we should be burning our own gas
Regular readers of this column will be familiar with my promoting an idea called a ‘Paceometer’ (pictured). Rather than presenting…
Why engineers beat lawyers
I once asked my friend, the engineer Guru Madhavan, why engineering faculties at most universities were outliers in containing more…
‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’ is genius marketing
Last Monday, I delivered a speech to mark the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s second-best book: An Inquiry into the…
Does The Spectator hate the Welsh?
This St David’s Day weekend, I devote this column to a celebration of the world’s most under-appreciated ethnic group. Under-appreciated,…
The real cost of the bureaucratic mindset
If you ever want to drive online commenters insane, all you need do is write an article headlined ‘Why it’s…
The stealth philanthropy of buying a Range Rover
Even though Christmas is over, I’ve been thinking about the season just gone. There is a tradition of complaining about…
The speed-camera approach to government
I was recently shown an AI analysis of long-term trends in the public’s attitude to government. The AI had been…
Where are you on the tightwad scale?
I once stood in a queue behind a Scotsman checking out of a hotel in Germany. After he had finished…
AI will take jobs – the wrong ones
As those of you familiar with this column will know, I am always eager to distinguish between an option and…
Could a degree make you less employable?
A few years ago my employer, the advertising agency Ogilvy, introduced a recruitment scheme called ‘The Pipe’. It was a…
