Highlights
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 about […]
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. You […]
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 on […]
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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.…
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A dot-com cyber-futurist library
Over 100 books from the dot-com era looking for an appreciative home I started buying books about the internet in the mid-1980s, long before I’d actually encountered it. I was…
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In Britain, when Parliament turns on the Crown…
…the Crown must act How to explain the persistence and apparent indestructibility of the British monarchy. More to the point, how to explain its desperate and paranoid response to the…
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Working in space
It’s a review of 2001: A Space Odyssey from my Hollywood history newsletter GROSS, but it’s also an essay about working in space and a comparison with Director Bong’s Mickey…
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Art book sale!
I’m having a bit of a clear-out. Here are some of the art books I’ve accumulated over the years. All priced to sell (I don’t think you’ll find any of…
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Hillman in Hendon and in Tehran
Is the Israeli attack on Iran the first on a country that manufactures electric cars by one that doesn’t? I met this gorgeous car and its proud owner in Hendon…
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Nationalise what?
Public ownership as end-of-life care. This is a quick note in response to the head-spinning fact that, apparently, both ends of the British Parliamentary political spectrum are now positively disposed…
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On the beach after the gold rush – annotated
I wrote this article for Mark Ellen at The Word fourteen years ago (I hope he won’t mind my putting it up here). The events described – my stupid progress…
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Paragraphs about AI
All these thoughts I keep having about AI, I’m going to put them here… Jared Bush, writer/codirector of Zootopia 2 and Chief Creative Officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios, asked…
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What have we learnt?
The liberal world order, the whole post-war, rules-based thing that we treasured. That’s obviously over. It’s not just what’s happening now, and not just in theatres of war: the symptoms…