Amidst all of the anecdotes about Thatcher we’ve heard today, I have one of my own. I interviewed Radio 4′s John Humphrys in October 2004 where he described the experience of speaking to then PM Margaret Thatcher on the Today programme during the 1987 election campaign: You have said on a number of occasions that [...]
I didn’t embark on my PPE course (St Peter’s College, 2004) expecting, or even hoping, to one day be running the country. I did it because I was fascinated by politics, fascinated by people and fascinated in particular by the changing dynamic between people, society and state. Studying PPE at Oxford is an extraordinary experience. [...]
People who oppose same sex marriage like to talk about the idea of a ‘traditional marriage.’ But it’s not entirely clear what that means. Marriage as an institution has evolved substantially over the last 250 years. Marriage of 250 years ago – Young people’s parents chose their partners to suit their own interests. Marriage of [...]
Although DMAA has been on the ‘Wada list’ of banned substances in elite sport since 2010, it was only withdrawn from sale in the UK in August 2012. Elite sportspeople are arguably safer taking DMAA-like substances than ordinary amateur runners. They have a battery of doctors around them to ensure they can take them as [...]
“What we are doing is exposing the rather nasty underbelly of racism in British sport and this particular aspect of British sport, football, which is a complete contrast to what you had at the Olympics. “If you had a section of the crowd at the Olympics chanting [Yid] do you think it would be tolerated? [...]
Where are today’s youth most likely to look for the latest fashion trend? For years, the answer has been mainstream media publications or blogs. Today, the answer is likely their friends on Facebook or Tumblr. The fashion for tie-dye tees by brands such as dertbag, HUF, Freedminds and Thrasher that is currently sweeping through London’s [...]
Based on a 20-month study, Solve Media found that a projected 10 percent of all online traffic isn’t human. Between January 2011 and August 2012, the company observed 100 million unique visitors a month across 5,000 publishers and found that one out of every ten users wasn’t a user at all, but a bot. As [...]
Tom Phillips, Telegraph: Designed to resemble a Ming dynasty table by French architect Anthony Bechu, the Shanghai academy opened in 2005 and is part of a new breed of elite institutions geared towards senior government officials. A prospectus handed out to visitors said the “international, contemporary and innovative institution” offered “cutting edge leadership training”. Gordon [...]
Enrico Moretti, The Atlantic: In essence, private investment in innovation has a private return for the firm that makes that investment, but it also supplies a social return that benefits other firms. This means that the market provides less investment in innovation than is socially desirable, because the return on such investments cannot be fully [...]
Carly Rae Jepsen may be causing controversy for pretending to be a teenager when she’s actually 26 (did these people never see Dawson’s Creek?), but here’s a natty classical take on her hit “Call Me Maybe.” I’m all for stuff that broadens access to classical music.