The Wiki Man

Have you caught the remote-working bug?

16 May 2020 9:00 am

One of the few benefits to emerge from this pandemic is that the world’s population has been given a crash…

Croquet is the perfect sport for social distancing

9 May 2020 9:00 am

In Mr Alton’s absence, I thought readers might want a column about sport. The problem is that I’m largely indifferent…

Is this the end of commuting?

2 May 2020 9:00 am

The brother of a friend in Durban was once given a generous donation by a wealthy aunt. ‘I hate to…

What bees can teach us about efficiency

25 April 2020 9:00 am

The newspapers are full of stories about how small groups of engineers from Formula 1 teams have been able to…

The keys to ending lockdown – introverts and brown M&M’s

18 April 2020 9:00 am

Once we’ve flattened the curve of infection with mass self-isolation, the next debate will concern how to soften the restrictions…

My Japanese toilet has made me a lockdown hero

11 April 2020 9:00 am

Compared with every other household chore, progress in bum-wiping has been glacially slow. It’s only in living memory that schools…

NHS workers deserve our applause – but so does the telecoms industry

4 April 2020 9:00 am

Next time there is a highly deserved round of public applause for NHS workers, do add one additional clap for…

The trick that will let you have a conference call from your home phone

28 March 2020 9:00 am

For the past 12 years, Roger Alton and I have shared this half page like Box and Cox: he writes…

Will quarantine for travellers become normal again?

21 March 2020 9:00 am

It wasn’t a coincidence that the US government chose Ellis Island as an immigration station. The crucial word is ‘island’.…

Why the BBC licence fee makes sense

7 March 2020 9:00 am

A consensus seems to be forming that the BBC licence fee is for the chop. In a digital age, the…

The simple trick that will hugely boost your phone coverage

21 February 2020 10:00 pm

In the recent debate over Britain’s 5G infrastructure, one dog didn’t bark in the night. At no point did anyone…

The real reason I am against HS2

7 February 2020 10:00 pm

Some years ago, two British supermarket chains needed to place a large order for replacement trollies. They had to decide…

The great train robbery: why Britain’s rail prices need a rethink

24 January 2020 10:00 pm

Outside mathematics, the word ‘commute’ can mean two things. Mostly it refers to the act of making a daily journey…

Something is badly wrong with the housing market – so why aren’t we talking about it?

11 January 2020 9:00 am

In 1991, 67 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds owned their own home. In 2016, that figure had fallen to…

Technological progress is as messy as Darwinian evolution

21 December 2019 9:00 am

There is a famous chart which shows the time it took for various technologies to be adopted by 50 million…

This year’s top gadgets – according to my inner chimp

7 December 2019 9:00 am

I’d hoped to spend this week writing about my new Geberit Japanese-style toilet, but since the grout is not yet…

No one else has the weird levels of self-regard shown by people who appear regularly on TV

23 November 2019 9:00 am

One of the more tedious tropes of recent years is for journalists to bemoan the rise of populism while busily…

How veganism became mainstream

9 November 2019 9:00 am

I have just returned from Canada, which seems to share Britain’s new-found obsession with veganism. There, chains such as Burger…

Plumbers always have the best restaurant recommendations

26 October 2019 9:00 am

Whenever I use the security lane at an airport, I enjoy watching people retrieving their bags and metallic items when…

Why averages don’t add up

12 October 2019 9:00 am

I recently learned from a doctor friend that salt isn’t necessarily bad for you. Yes, there is a minority whose…

Why business is perfectly relaxed about Brexit

28 September 2019 9:00 am

It’s difficult to go into the office nowadays, since most of my colleagues are so distraught by the prospect of…

Business is the only area of human activity where you get paid to change your mind

14 September 2019 9:00 am

In 1891, a 29-year-old man moved from Philadelphia to Chicago intending to start a business. With $32 to his name,…

Why no one ever moves back to London

31 August 2019 9:00 am

In last week’s Spectator, Martin Vander Weyer replied to a couple with a baby who had sought his advice on…

Looking for a new idea? Try borrowing an old one

17 August 2019 9:00 am

Recently I suggested a new approach to commuter-train overcrowding. It simply involved reformulating the problem by accepting that not all…

Is the future of work flexible?

3 August 2019 9:00 am

Today we suffer disillusion, not because we are poorer than we were — on the contrary, even today we enjoy,…