Holiday kit – should it stay or should it go?
One inarguably good thing about electronic publishing is that it solves that old quandary about what books to pack for…
How good laws change our ways
What would happen, I wonder, were we to rescind the smoking ban as Nigel Farage wants? My guess is not…
Adam Smith vs the measurebators
Gandhi would test his resolve by sleeping between two naked virgins, an avenue not really open to me, as my…
Six ways to a better life
But why did the food [in England] stay so bad after refrigerated ships, frozen foods and eventually air-freight deliveries of…
How user-friendly is your house?
Old Glaswegian joke: ‘Put your hat and coat on, lassie, I’m off to the pub.’ ‘That’s nice — are you…
When brave is better than good
Oskar Morgenstern grew up in Vienna, John von Neumann in Budapest. Clearly the same Austro-Hungarian intellectual spirit which gave rise…
A land of extremes
A few years ago I would have quite liked to live in America. I’m not sure now. For one thing,…
Ideas that breed
A 14-year-old at an American school recently caused a stir when he claimed that the US government could save over…
You can buy happiness
If you are reading this article online, perhaps you could go to the comments section and let us know what…
The diamond-ring theory of housing bubbles
Google ‘the bread market’ and you get 135,000 hits, mostly from specialist food industry websites. Google ‘the property market’, however,…
Three minds are better than one
This month Daniel Kahneman turned 80. Long revered among experts in the decision sciences, his work reached much wider public…
How to give yourself a better chance
During the O.J. Simpson trial, the prosecution made much of the fact that Simpson had a record of violence towards…
A mystery in the middle lane
I am convinced that when I took my driving test in 1983 I was asked by the examiner, ‘What lane…
24 hours in a Qatari jail cell
This column nearly didn’t appear. Another 24 hours and I would have trumped the late Jeffrey Bernard with the single…
Mobile phones with a touch of tweed
I wouldn’t worry much about the future of the British economy. Because I have a simple plan to make the…
Luddites in the kitchen
I enjoy reading reviews of kitchen gadgetry. Clever new kitchen products are often under-appreciated. Many rituals around food preparation are…
Why it’s tough to be middle class
Until the late 1960s, the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson ran something called a ‘copy test’. It was a series…
More Grand Theft Auto, less crime
It was about a week ago, at 8 p.m., when our blackout happened. In the 1980s people would have headed…
Retrofitted arguments
Some people are gay. Get over it’ — this was the slogan for a campaign against homophobia. A series of YouTube…
How to reduce journey times without HS2
I am still waiting for someone to refute my argument that it would be possible to reduce the journey time…
Smart cars
Someone in New York told me this story. I admit that I didn’t believe it when I first heard it.…
What’s really annoying you?
‘Sorry, I’d love to go the pub this evening, but I have to go out. It’s my wife’s wedding anniversary.’…
High Speed 2’s no-fly zone
From Edinburgh airport there are more than 45 flights a day to London. And, I imagine, the same number back.…
A mansion tax that monkeys would understand
I am surprised no more attention has been given to Martin Vander Weyer’s suggestion in The Spectator two weeks ago…
Meet the real scourge of the English countryside
I’m off to Balcombe this weekend. In fact I might even carry a placard and paint my face with a…
