BY PAUL T HORGAN A person mentioning the humorous magazine Punch to most people under the age of 50 will be met with blank stares. Punch closed, barring an abortive resurrection, in 1992, when today’s 50-year-old would have been in their teens, and by that time, Punch‘s mass appeal had long gone as monolithic markets began to break into smaller segments. A decision sometime in the mid-1960s had seen the magazine redesigned … Continue reading Artificial Dishonesty
CITY GRUMP An old City colleague led me to a letter in the Financial Times last week. It is an eye-opening wake-up call to our politicians, civil servants and anyone else who professes to be interested in spurring on what the letter writer calls the “UK tech ecosystem”. It concerns the takeover bid for a £1.2bn UK listed investment company you probably have never heard … Continue reading Hark the Herald, the Goths Rush in
BY NIALL McCRAE Everyone knows of the vinyl revival, which has steadily grown since the turn of the millennium. Remarkably, cassettes are now making a comeback too, and the biggest interest is in youth. Indie bands are releasing music on tape, sometimes as the only medium offered. In a backlash against the digital world, anything tangible gives a sense of radical resistance to the Great … Continue reading Audio Nostalgia: The Unexpected Return of Cassettes
BY JACK WATSON An electric scooter, or e-scooter, is a two-wheeled manual scooter, except it is propelled by a motor. Many people seem to be in awe of them at the moment, including Toby Young of The Spectator, and they have become a popular mode of transport. Others find them a nuisance and if they cannot be made safer or if people do not start … Continue reading E-legal Scooters
BY ADAM JAMES POLLOCK But what if God himself can be simulated, that is to say can be reduced to signs that constitute faith? Then the whole system becomes weightless, it is no longer anything but a gigantic simulacrum – not unreal, but simulacrum, that is to say never exchanged for the real, but exchanged for itself, in an uninterrupted circuit without reference or circumference. … Continue reading On Simulation and the Metaverse
BY ALEX STORY After a week away from home, I walk in. Not a sound. I take a few tentative steps into the flat. I open the door to the living room. There in total silence, my four children, each with their own devices, slouch on the sofa. They barely notice me. For a second, a pair of eyes zeroes in on me, only to … Continue reading Live Life to the Full
THE CITY GRUMP General reaction to the last minute Brexit deal has been along the lines of “Bless my soul. They all said Boris would fail but, lo and behold, he has pulled it off”. No more ECJ rulings, no more customs union and free trade here we come. Unfurl the Union Jack, we have taken back control. Not so fast. By now, courtesy of … Continue reading Smoke & Mirrors Mask the Brexit Deal
Rural internet: a slower pace of life, but not in a good way Part of the joy of living in the countryside is remaining a few steps out of sync with the modern world, in splendid isolation. While they whizz busily head, we’re usually content to trot along at a slower pace, enjoying time-honoured traditions and basking in the glory of nature. But there are … Continue reading Rural Internet
Country life is the only life I could imagine. As much interest as the city can hold when it comes to newer developments, living in it is not a price which I, or many others, would pay to enjoy such rarities. Instead, I’ve found a lot of luck recently turning to more technological solutions. It requires a little knowledge work getting here, for sure, but … Continue reading Getting Ahead to Enjoy the Classics at a Distance
