Letters to Europe: Part One Brexit was a stitch-up of the British people from the start. First off, it was an in-out advisory referendum which won by a simple majority. As soon as the vote was announced, it was clear that both David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn wanted to leave the EU — for different…

Distraction on an Olympic scale is our default position as climate emergency accelerates — It was a curious tragedy that proved difficult to resolve because it took place in the 21st century’s Wild West, the intersection of technology with humankind. On March 23, 2018, Walter Huang, an Apple engineer, was in his Tesla SUV on his way to work when the vehicle accelerated from…

Love for Ambulance Blues triumphs technical challenge — Here’s my version of Neil Young’s Ambulance Blues. I found this take, recorded on my phone, the other day. I think this is the only time I’ve played it all the way through without having to have a swig of whisky at the halfway mark. I love singing songs, but…

The simplest of activities — walking down the street, buying a coffee, browsing in a shop, protesting against climate breakdown — were given a new lease of life in Cambridge on Saturday, May 1st. Two years ago these things were normal, but the long months of the third lockdown have…

Humanomics replaces capitalism as a model for economic activity by taking into account human dilemmas in which motives are based on factors other than monetary gain. The model at its most simplistic is animated by the desire to ensure that everyone is valued as a productive member of society: conventional…

In 1977 I overlanded to India along the Old Silk Road. I was 19 years of age. That summer the Sex Pistols released ‘God Save the Queen’ and there was a whiff of revolt in London. Everything was changing: punk was a giant wind that blew all sorts of cobwebs…

Misinformation could be minimised, but as a society we’re still enjoying the temporary relief of self-harming — It’s outrageous that Facebook is allowed to tell the world that policing its site for harmful content is not possible without an army of fact-checkers when they know full well that such a goal could easily be achieved with a little strategic thinking — thinking which could help avoid democracy…

PART ONE OF A NEW SERIES ON STORIES IN THE NEWS — People who are called “writers” are sort-changed by the term. Most “writing” involves some a priori thinking. But I guess it’s rude to pick people out as “thinkers”. After all, doesn’t everyone think? Perhaps, but some writers spend more time thinking — or maybe they push on with their thinking…

Not many folks have picked up on Boris Johnson’s description of the coronavirus as “a devilish illness” have they? So did Boris do a deal with the devil at the crossroads to stay alive? Was it the work of the devil? Fact is, calling a viral infection “devilish” doesn’t fill…