Highlights
Count Binface and electoral theatre
Don’t be a costumed loon — It’s trivially easy to stand for Parliament in the UK. Any loon can do so. You need ten electors to nominate you and £500 for a deposit – and it’s actually been getting easier. The deposit was introduced in 1918 (£150 – quite a lot of money then). Before […]
I hate this
But does it matter? — I don’t usually say that sort of thing here. I try to be more measured, less personal. I’m talking about the police face recognition vans obviously. This might not surprise you: I mean that I don’t like them. I’m an old git after all, a man who’s written here before […]
Where is my patriotism?
Come, love of country, fill my heart… — I do love Britain. I guess I love England more. London most of all. I hope that in my life I’ve honoured the place I live and not disgraced it or undermined it (I support England and GB in sporting events – I fly a little flag […]
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Still rotting
A long time ago I ran a company called Webmedia. It was a web design firm and we earned the special distinction of ‘going bust before the boom’ (as one…
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The last time we tried ID cards
Spot-on opener for the new series of Jonathan Freedland’s The Long View on Radio 4. The programme’s about the last time we tried ID cards in the UK and the…
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New York & India
Rush out and buy these special issues before they disappear from the shelves at the end of the week: The Economist’s terrific Survey of New York and New Scientist’s comprehensive…
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Brand not dead after all
On the way to the airport Friday I found a Swiss Army Knife at the bottom of my bag. Not much of a knife (and the little tooth pick was…
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Food’s Hatfield
Risks to health from the Sudan 1 food dye are assessed to be ‘very small’ by the Food Standards Agency (you’d need to eat two or three wheelbarrows of Branston…
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Being in Switzerland
My hyper-connected friend Azeem introduced me to Beth Krasna, an equally hyper-connected and hyperactive Swiss polyglot technocrat. Beth invited me to participate in a fascinating and more-than-slightly intimidating seminar on…
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Revolutionary love
Abbie Hoffman’s Steal This Book is a page turner. Loads of historically resonant words, including these handy phreaking tips: “AT&T, like all public utilities, passes itself off as a service…
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Stop the presses
It’s National Chip Week. No, really. It is. So I thought I’d bring you these lovely facts: “A portion of chips (175g) contain double the fibre, 75 times more folate…
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Google’s edgy brand
Will a Google takeover of Wikipedia be a good thing or a bad thing? Don’t ask me. I’m more interested in what Google‘s offer says about the company’s persistently geeky…