Highlights
Nearly half a bicycle
The atomic theory in Kilburn — This place (on Kilburn High Road) has been morphing steadily from dry cleaner’s to bike shop over the last few years. I remember being surprised one morning to see a few kids’ bikes lined up for sale outside but I’d say the shop is now approaching 50% bike shop. […]
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 […]
Some bullet-points about regulation
In case you’d got the wrong idea about how the ’regulatory state‘ is supposed to work — UPDATED 23 May 2025. I could update this thing daily. Regulation is always a news story in the UK (Search any news service for ‘regulation‘ right now and you’ll get a long list of current news stories about […]
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London’s economic strength
The Statesman last week has a pullout transcript of a round table discussion on the topic of ‘London’s economic strength’. There’s a PDF version here. The participants include Ed Balls,…
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And on… and on… A plug
When he was UK MD of Ariston, Giuliano Gnagnati brought you those mesmerising TV ads (“Ariston… and on… and on…”). Ariston was an obscure Italian brand ? sales and brand…
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Country Code rebellion
Thanks to Kevin Werbach for linking to this excellent piece from The Register about this week’s meeting of the obscure group of organisations who look after the national top level…
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War analysed
Always excellent David Walker opens the new series of BBC Radio 4’s Analysis with a subtle look at our definition of the national interest in the context of the planned…
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Toyota triumphs
I learn from the FT’s latest survey on the motor industry (which requires a subscription) that, in the midst of the longest recession of the modern era in its home…
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Barry Cox on broadcast
The third and fourth of Barry Cox’s lectures on the future of broadcasting, as reprinted by The Guardian. The third concerns the failure of competition in digital TV in the…
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The BBC and voting
We should probably keep an eye on this. Matt Jones, dreamer of this parish and information architect at the BBC, is working on an ambitious project intended to get us…
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The end of language?
Azeem wonders if children submitting essays in txt msg language is a bad thing or just language evolving. I’m usually one of those ‘language is a living thing’ guys in…
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Cable traumaMy latest Bowbrick at Large in The Guardian is about gloom and desperation in the TV business and the continued failure of the cable industry to wire up Broadband Britain.…
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Can you commoditise a commodity?
G Beato in The Guardian laments file sharing’s commoditisation of music. The piece is heartfelt but unhistoric. Music is ancient – older than language – but has changed more in…