A Monitor Darkly

Coalplating Published on 25 August 2026 When I sit opposite another fully-grown man on my local commuter rail, we must interleave our knees together due to insufficient leg-room.

The Aestheticization of the Left Published on 25 August 2026 Walter Benjamin argued that the fascists had elevated aesthetic principles into a politics, as a means of avoiding any genuinely radical attempt to change the power structure.

Layoffs and AI Published on 17 May 2026 I know no-one who has been fired due to underperformance.

The Rise and Rise of the Superego Published on 20 April 2026 A common argument from feminists is that medical research is skewed towards male-dominated diseases.

The New Complexity Trap Published on 10 March 2026 In my professional life I’ve repeatedly seen the same pattern.

Democracy and World Wars Timeline Diplomacy Timing Remilitarisation of the Rhineland Spanish Civil War Munich Prague and the Polish Guarantee Soviet Negotiations Final Days War Strategy Saar Offensive Ruhr Bombing The Nordic misadventure Fall of Chamberla…

The Decline of Socialisation Published on 17 April 2025 There’s an emerging narrative, principally pushed by Twenge and Haidt, that young people aren’t socialising due to smartphones and/or video games.

Google vs Government Published on 15 March 2025 I work in a dysfunctional area of government and I’ve always been struck that a single private firm appears to share all of the same organisational pathologies: Google.

Effective Sample Size Published on 25 January 2025 The more data points you have demonstrating a statistical relationship, the more certain you can be that this relationship exists.

Contra Cummings Published on 12 January 2025 Dominic Cummings – Gove’s spad, vote leave architect and Bojo’s chief advisor – has a lot of interesting things to say about British politics.