Patriotism Is Fun — Until the Nationalists Spoil It
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with patriotism, especially when it comes to sport. In fact, I believe it’s one of the best parts of it. Flags in windows, anthems sung badly, pints flying across the pub in the last minute — it’s daft, partisan and forgivable fun. For a short while, I reckon we’re all on the same team, and it feels good. Sport gives us that rare excuse to lose ourselves in tribalism without any real harm being ...
Are Autumns Getting Wetter?
I’ll confess something straight away: I love stats. Sad, isn’t it? Some people collect vinyl or matchboxes, others run marathons or still play with Meccano in their 50s. Me? I sit at my iPad cross-referencing rainfall figures from 1930 onwards. It’s not glamorous, but it keeps me off the streets. Anyway, September is shaping up to be the wettest month since January, which got me wondering: are autumns really getting wetter, or am I ...
Why I Voted for Starmer — and Why I’m Now Questioning Him
When the last election came around, many on the socialist end of the political spectrum couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Keir Starmer. They saw him as a compromise too far, a man who had already edged away from the transformative politics they wanted. I understood that view but I still chose differently. Voting for Sensible Action I voted Labour under Starmer not because I thought he was perfect, but because I believed he would ...
How Dogs and Humans First Got Together
Scientists and historians love to debate the great mysteries of human civilisation: how the pyramids were built, what Stonehenge was really for, who first ate a carrot, and why we still haven’t learned how to fold a fitted sheet. But perhaps the most important question of all is this: how on earth did humans and dogs first become best friends? Scene One: The First Stare-Off Around 20,000 years ago, give or take a few centuries a pack of ...
Why Prime Ministers Shouldn’t Play Hide-and-Seek With Their Taxes
Ask a politician what taxes are for and you’ll get the fairy-tale version: they fund schools, hospitals and keep the bins collected. Lovely. It makes us feel that every pound we hand over is a moral contribution to society, rather than just another reason we can’t justify £20 for a steak sandwich down at the local pub. The Economists Can’t Agree But economists can’t leave anything simple. The conventional crowd argue that taxes ...