Psychology
Has Carole the tarantula cured my arachnophobia?
I’ve been an arachnophobe my whole life. I can’t remember a time when videos of spiders, or even photos or…
The cult of sensitivity
I was extra pleased to have swerved the modern curse that is Wordle when I read that ‘sensitive’ words have…
Don't make war in Ukraine about Putin’s mental health
There was a time when supposedly serious commentators on world affairs used to at least feign historical knowledge. They might…
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…
Good things can come from guilt
I do not know anyone in the Sackler family. I wouldn’t even have heard of them were it not for…
I tempted fate – and got Covid
Well, I did warn you. As I typed my column last week on the imminent end of Covid I said…
Why must younger generations constantly ‘work on themselves’?
If I could lift one thing from younger generations, unpeel one idea from their anxious minds, it would be the…
Sense and sensibility: Steven Pinker and Rory Sutherland on reason vs instinct
Steven Pinker and Rory Sutherland on reason vs instinct
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…
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…
From salivating dogs to mass indoctrination: Pavlov’s sinister legacy
Peter Pomeranzev describes the refinement of thought-control techniques over the past century – and the worldwide competition to employ them
Champagne, sex or the Tories: what could you live without?
In idle chatter the other evening, somebody pooh-poohed champagne. He was a brave soul because in certain circles — and…
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…
How Prince Harry became celebrity frontman for a very questionable industry
Prince Harry’s very questionable new job
The art of the public information ad
The art of the public information ad
The power of cold showers
Why I’ve warmed to cold showers
The problem with pop psychology
The problem with pop psychology
The Trumpian mirror
Trump hatred has been with us since he announced his candidacy five years ago. But we can all feel the…
Is liberalism really a mental illness?
Conservative pundits like Michael Savage and Mark Dice like to ruffle feathers by claiming that liberalism is a mental disorder.…
The dangers of unconscious bias training
Diversity training doesn’t work
Donald Trump isn’t mad
It is alarming how psychiatric diagnoses have crept into the political commentary. Donald Trump, we’ve been told, has narcissistic personality…
How kind is humankind?
Are humans by nature really more puppy than wolf? Oren Harman tests the science
Being diagnosed as autistic was the happiest day of my life
It’s easy to forget that until the late 1980s the notion of an autistic person being able to write a…
Are you tingle-minded? The rapid rise of ASMR
I once had a flatmate called Tom, who behaved very oddly when our cleaner came round. On mornings when she…
Is the judiciary really so bad at judging character?
When I had a cough last week, my son Joe, who has autism, shouted at me and covered his ears.…
