The ‘Squeezed Middle’ is a much abused term, most frequently applied to the law-abiding middle classes who don’t have the wherewithal to dodge taxes through off-shore film investment schemes and are too morally-grounded (or too far in hock…) to give up work and suck from society’s withered but ever obliging teat. It applies to manufacturing too; luxury consumer goods and bargain-basement imports are both thriving while the middle ground struggles…

I know what you’re thinking: a video demonstrating how to rebuild the engine from a Triumph Spitfire has got to be Betamax, hasn’t it? After all, how interesting can it be? Well, the answer is ‘very’ – as long as it’s done with this level of care, attention to detail, and, yes, obsession. Beautifully choreographed and set to one of my favourite pieces of music, this video demonstrates how much…

Nudge, by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein has been a phenomenon: the British government considered implementing their ideas to encourage healthier living and a more responsible attitude towards saving for our retirement; schools are using their suggestions to encourage healthier eating amongst students; universities use it in much the same way to discourage excessive drinking; and Schiphol airport authorities (well, specifically those responsible for urine spillage in the…

My attention span has never been too good. At school I got bored very easily, which led to me barely scrape a pass in my O-levels (O-levels were like GCSEs but much harder because they weren’t awarded automatically) because I spent my time arsing about, a pastime that culminated in making an improvised explosive device that destroyed a desk and what little sanity my physics teacher had managed to preserve…

The wisdom-of-the-crowd – the aggregation of collective knowledge, experience, and wisdom to become better informed – has few serious critics. Idiosyncratic noise will inevitably distort the opinion of an individual and lead to a degradation of interpretation; after all, a solitary view can also be expressed as a skewed survey with a sample size of one. So the received wisdom that the BMW 3 Series is a great car is…