Editorials

I was about ten years old when I overheard my father explaining to someone that he was an atheist. ‘When you die, you die’ he told her. As one of his business activities was organising funerals, I had to assume Read more »

A couple of months ago researchers announced that iPhone users were more likely to see their phones as a status symbol than those using an android phone. It set off debate on what phones could tell us about an individual’s Read more »

A couple of weeks ago, as part of Bridport Literary Festival, I interviewed Times journalist David Aaronovitch about his book Party Animals: My Family and Other Communists. He is such an engaging speaker that there were questions which we never Read more »

Dorset resident and ‘Gaia theory’ scientist James Lovelock took a bit of flak for some of his comments in a recent article in the Guardian. Interviewed by Decca Aitkenhead, he had dramatically shifted his position on climate change since their Read more »

The Woodland Trust recently announced the shortlist of trees chosen to compete for the UK’s Tree of the Year competition. This year’s entries include the original Bramley apple tree from Southwell in Nottinghamshire, a Mulberry bush in west Yorkshire that Read more »

According to research done a few years ago, people in America spent more money on slot machines than theme parks, films and baseball put together. It is hard to imagine that pumping coins into machines could be so profitable, but Read more »

Interviewed on Radio 4 recently the American theoretical physicist and cosmologist, Lawrence Krauss, was asked what he would like to be remembered for. The question was posed after a lengthy discussion about science that covered a range of subjects including Read more »

As a fan of technology I have always hoped that genius techies will solve more of the world’s problems and help with some of the issues caused by what we so often inaccurately describe as ‘progress’. So I was happy Read more »

Despite the fact that we are a long way from a consensus on the eventual effects of addiction to social media, I was fascinated when a teenager recently mentioned to me that she had given up Facebook and Instagram. ‘I Read more »

According to Wikipedia, human multitasking is ‘an apparent human ability to perform more than one task, or activity, at the same time.’ It cites an example: ‘taking phone calls while typing an email and reading a book.’ This seems like Read more »