• A Bad Line 6 Jan 12

    They’ve been accused of causing cancer, brain tumours, misspent youth and broken relationships. They’re the bane of cinemas, dinner tables and quiet coaches. Yet if there is one thing that... Read More

  • Tongue Tied 5 Aug 11

    If there’s one thing that I really wanted when I was younger – more than Italian blood, more even than a baby doll that cried real tears – it was an accent. It wasn’t a completely... Read More

  • Behind The Beard 17 Dec 10

    I might turn my attention to the Bermuda Triangle next, or to Nessie or to Life on Mars (the planet, not the TV programme). After all I clearly have the skill set. For decades, large brained boffins... Read More

  • It's A Library Thing 3 Dec 10

    When Optima Magazine’s usually gimmick-wary editor mentions that she’s contemplating buying an eBook reader as a convenient, baggage-lightening way of stocking up with reading material for an... Read More

  • Where Have All The Robots Gone? 16 Apr 10

    We’ve had robots of sorts working in factories for decades – by the end of the 1970s Fiat was claiming that its cars were ‘built by robots’ – but these are static machines programmed to do... Read More

  • The Business Of Responsibility 8 Jan 10

    You could be excused for thinking, by its title, that this piece is about to give you the kind of lecture you got as a child from your parents, in an attempt to help you act as a mature human... Read More

  • In Praise Of The Older Person? 20 Sep 08

    The United Nations designates 1 October as ‘International Day for Older Persons’. Whatever next? It gets worse. There’s a distinct emphasis on being Full Of Life. Having never been Full Of... Read More

  • Health Check: The NHS At 60 5 Jul 08

    Before the Beveridge Report of 1942 (commissioned by the wartime coalition government headed by Winston Churchill), free comprehensive healthcare for all had never been proposed by those in... Read More

  • Wasting Time And Energy 2 Feb 08

    In January, John Hutton (Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) told MPs that he was inviting energy companies to bring forward plans to build and operate new nuclear power... Read More

  • Sweet Charity 5 Jan 08

    Charity begins at… the internet, the supermarket and on the television. In fact, anywhere but the home. People shaking collecting tins on the doorstep are now a species as endangered as the... Read More

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