Politics

Article — 19 August 2023 — 1,733 words

Britpop, braindance and broken politics — How 1990s optimism became passé

Britpop has been having a moment again this summer, prompting investigations into why the scene fizzled out. The conventional explanations are unconvincing. Electronic music tells us why.

Article — 6 November 2022 — 1,179 words

One twit can make a service a dodo

Digital — Politics — Web

I have complicated feelings about the apparent imminent demise of Twitter in the hands of a reckless owner.

Article — 1 April 2020 — 2,180 words

Adapting to the new normal

Current affairs — Personal — Politics — Society — Work

One of the (many) strange features of the coronavirus outbreak is that in many ways I feel busier than I have ever been. It is almost three weeks since I was last in my office, yet I haven’t had the time to commit my thoughts to writing.

Article — 21 August 2019 — 133 words

Why did the UK become a failed state? — Simon Wren-Lewis — mainly macro

Economics — Media — Politics

This post is about how a policy (crashing out of the EU) that will do nearly everyone harm and some great harm seems to have considerable, albeit still minority, support… You either have to assume that a third of the population has gone mad, or instead see this as a fundamental failure of information. The […]

Article — 20 September 2018 — 527 words

The problem with trusting experience over expertise (a story about design thinking, astronauts, Formula 1 pundits and Brexit)

Architecture — Design — Formula 1 — Media — Politics

The media — and society in general — has gradually drifted away from listening to expert figures, in favour of practitioners. But it is leaving us less enlightened.

Article — 25 May 2018 — 367 words

Happy GDPR day

Politics — Technology

It has certainly been interesting to receive emails from so many companies I have no recollection of doing any business with.

Article — 9 May 2018 — 439 words

Why the TSB IT meltdown may be a failure of regulation

Politics — Technology

The root of TSB’s IT disaster comes from the very beginning of its life.

Article — 29 March 2018 — 1,984 words

The media also has lessons to learn from the latest Facebook furore

Media — Politics — Technology

I am no fan of Facebook. But I am less than impressed with the media’s coverage of Facebook as well.

Article — 23 November 2017 — 193 words

Why I wouldn’t reduce the length of my commute

Politics — Travel — Work

We often think of commuting as wasteful and inconvenient. But is it entirely negative?

Article — 6 November 2013 — 783 words

Not voting is a valid democratic act

Economics — Politics

People often claim that if you do not vote then you automatically lose your right to have a say in any way. This idea is dangerous and wrong.

Article — 10 July 2013 — 664 words

Ignorance is inevitable

Economics — Politics

A survey showed that the British public is “wrong about nearly everything”. But the main lesson is not that so many people are stupid. It is that we are all ignorant, no matter how well-informed we like to think we are.