Tim Harford and the distractions

Another fine if freezing day, this time in Paris, after which I feel fully arted, very pogged, and once more chilled to the marrow. I spent the morning at the Winogrand show, the afternoon at the Muse D’Orsay, the evening stuffing my face, and the interstices taking photographs such as that above, in and around…

In all the middle-class hand-wringing about the riots, the universal refrain is that the looters are not like us.  We look at them as though they are from a different planet.  I wonder how true that is. Thinking about this lately, it’s occurred to me that absolute honesty, or even morality, is not a given…

A customs Union with the EU is an attractive option for many Brexit proponents. The only major one concluded is with Turkey. Here’s what it involves…..the following is a description of the deal from it’s Wikepedia page. How do you like this particular bargain, Leavers? Turkey, by accepting the customs union protocol, was giving the…

OK it’s schadenfreude, but it is enjoyable This was not intended to be a site that included topical commentary , but it would be remiss of me, if only for my own historical records, to fail to note how deeply satisfying it is to see the various parts of Murdoch’s empire start to catch fire….

A few fun food facts for you today – to both inform and revolt. Despite my tall and generally stick-like appearance, I can stack on the weight – in fact at this height (6’4″), my weight has varied by 56 pounds (25kg, or the weight of a good sized springer spaniel).  I maintain in fact…

The Guardian in the last month has confirmed more or less everything I wrote back in June on Prism/Boundless intrusion.  It’s true, tthe NSA/GCHQ are seeing everything.   It’s not clear whether today’s revelations show that Snowden is still releasing information after his temporary asylum into Russia or whether it was done before he left…