What We Need for a Classic Winter
One of the quirks of UK winter is the “blocking high”. that stubborn ridge of high pressure which parks itself over Greenland or Scandinavia and funnels icy Arctic air towards us. When one of these blocks settles in, we get the sort of winter weather people still get misty-eyed about: crisp days, deep frosts, frozen ponds, maybe even some snow that sticks around long enough to matter.
Why Blocking ...
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 ...
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 ...
There are few things more depressing than watching a Simon Reeve documentary with the dawning realisation that your country has been run like a car boot sale by people who think “long-term strategy” means making it to Friday without a scandal. His recent journey through Norway was one of those eye-popping, blood-boiling spectacles that leaves you shouting at the telly, then Googling ‘Norway Wealth’ just to confirm he’s not lying.
A ...
"Back in My Day..."
The summer of 1976 — the season Baby Boomers will cling to until the final jug of lukewarm Robinsons squash evaporates off a scorched patio. For those unfamiliar, 1976 was the year it got hot in Britain. Not real hot by modern standards, but hot enough for a few shirtless dads to mow the light brown lawn while “You to Me Are Everything” by The Real Thing warbled from a transistor radio. A time so beloved it’s been ...
