Health & Education
The Joy of Not Knowing Everything
A degree in economics, maths, physics and bionics Today I learnt why some trees start turning brown during a prolonged heatwave. It turns out that it isn’t an early autumn at all. Under severe heat and drought stress, some trees effectively start shutting down parts of their leaf system. They reduce water loss, chlorophyll breaks down, leaves brown and some are eventually sacrificed altogether. It’s a survival mechanism. I didn’t ...
Did the Smoking Ban Kill the British Pub? Not Even Close
There is a populist idea that the smoking ban swooped in during 2007, stubbed out a cigarette, and took the entire British pub industry down with it. It is a neat, simple explanation. It also has the slight inconvenience of being complete bollocks. The decline had already been well underway, but blaming one visible policy is much easier than acknowledging years of slow, unglamorous economic reality. The truth, as ever, is less dramatic and a ...
Remember When Pubs Smelled Like Ashtrays?
Ah yes, the good old days. You’d pop into the pub for a quiet pint and leave smelling like you’d spent the evening slow-roasting over a bonfire of Marlboro Lights. Clothes ruined, eyes stinging, lungs doing their best impression of a chimney. You didn’t even have to smoke. Simply existing in the same room was enough. Then along came the smoking ban. And, rather inconveniently for nostalgia merchants, it worked. Cleaner Air, Fewer ...
Lord of the Flies – Excellent BBC Remake of a Book From Schooldays
I finally got round to watching the new BBC adaptation of Lord of the Flies, and I’ll be honest, I went in expecting worthy, slightly heavy drama. It is indeed heavy. But it’s also very well done. Many of us did the book at school. Basically, a group of boys crash on an island, no adults, and at first they try to do things with some kind of democratic order. Elect a leader. Keep a fire going. Make some simple rules. Then it all slowly ...
Waiting for the Out – A Unique Drama Worth Watching!
I’ve just finished watching Waiting for the Out on BBC One and it’s one of those series that quietly sneaks up on you rather than making a big song and dance about itself. It’s a six-part drama set mainly inside a British prison. The main character is Dan Stewer, played by Josh Finan, who teaches philosophy to inmates. That might sound a bit right on and worthy, but it really isn’t. It turns out philosophy is a pretty good way of ...