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2023

07/12 Christmas Quiz XVIII: Errata
Two errors in the Christmas...
03/12 Christmas Quiz XVIII is now available!
With the coming of Advent comes the Christmas...
01/12 Fair and/or Progressive?
A canter through inheritance tax, student loans and the 2012 Olympics to look at what's fair - and when fairness and progressiveness come into...
27/11 D&D Alignment Survey
A survey to determine how consistently people interpret D&D alignments - looking at a range of fictional and historical...
19/11 The Lantern Bearer: A Personal Tribute to Nick Gibb
Nick Gibb has left millions of children better off: more able to read, better educated and with a richer and deeper knowledge of the world. My personal tribute to his...
11/11 Whatever Happened to my Faststream Cohort?
Seventeen years ago I joined the Civil Service Fast Stream, in what was then the Department of Trade and Industry(1). I was part of a cohort of 15 of us in the DTI, or about 300 across the whole...
06/11 Can This Cockpit Hold The Vasty Fields of Gondor?
Recommended background music: The Tolkien Playlist. This has been a year of The Lord of the Rings, with Eldest reading it for the first time, followed by watching the films and going to see the...
24/10 Are Human Rights for Everyone?
There is a classic debate around human rights, which can be exemplified by converation below between the fictional avatars of the readers of two thinly disguised publications: Torygraph: Human rights...
25/09 A Year of Blogging
It’s now been a year since I started blogging again. During that time I’ve made 42 posts, levelled up this blog from a Tier 1 to a Tier 2 blog (for an explanation, read on) and enjoyed...
19/09 A Better Reading Challenge
After several years grumbling about the lacklustre nature of the summer reading challenge in our local library, last year I decided to do something about it and make my own - categories, maps, medal...
11/09 Mental Health and the Progressive Parenting Paradox
Data shows that progressive young people have significantly worse mental health than conservative ones - so what does this mean for progressive...
30/08 A Sneak Peak at the Christmas Quiz
A look ahead at Christmas Quiz...
25/08 How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Roaming Charges
Roaming charges are one of those first-world problems that sting due to the usual ubiquity of modern technology. But does this automatically mean they're a bad...
20/08 Travel Report from a Woke Nation
What I saw on a trip to...
12/08 The Worm’s-Eye View and Outcome Indifference
Why is everything broken? We've adopted a 'worm's-eye view', where we care far more about the processes that lead to an outcome, than about the actual outcome...
26/07 Should we Care if Elon Musk Destroys Twitter?
Will Musk destroy Twitter? Is he trying to? And should we care if he...
23/07 Social Conservatism and the Arc of History
"The arc of the moral universise is long, but it bends towards justice." So where does that leave social...
04/07 The Hidden Depths of Wilbur Smith
Wilbur Smith was undeniably a popular author, selling over 140 million books in his lifetime. But while it’s easy to think of him has an adventure writer – and a good – one, some of...
27/06 Ten blogs I read regularly
Ten blogs I enjoy...
23/06 Reflections on Brexit
Seven years on from the historic Brexit referendum, I reflect on what's gone well, what less well - and was it all worth it in the...
14/06 How Institutions Evolve
How do organisation's stay relevant? And when is the price to...
06/06 Links for June
Links for June. Includes Cleopatra, Africa in maps, how to create good jobs and the dangers of conceptual...
04/06 Five Elephants; or, Thoughts on Civil Service Impartiality
Last month the Institute for Government published a thoughtful report on the value of an impartial Civil Service. It is worth reading and contains much that I agree with. There are, however, some...
31/05 Ask Me Anything (100 subscribers edition)
This week this blog hit a key milestone - 100 subscribers. To mark this milestone, I'll be doing another Ask Me Anything...
27/05 Who’s Rich? Survey results
The results of the 'Are the Dursleys rich?' survey - a survey about who was rich, looking at a variety of fictional characters and case studies....
15/05 Two thoughts on board games
A short post on board games, looking at luck in games with children - and how some people seem much better at certain games than...
13/05 Why the Realignment Failed (for now)
Last week's local elections went pretty terribly for the Conservatives. They lost over 1000 seats to Labour, the Lib Dems and the Green party - and are no longer the largest party in Local...
05/05 My Imaginary University
I took part in Paul Greatrix's podcast 'My Imaginary University' - think Desert Island Disks, but you get to design a university. With a thriving physics department, full academic governance and G....
26/04 Still my favourite political conversation about Liz Truss
I don't see why Liz Truss thinks she should be Prime Minister. All she's ever done is write a book about...
23/04 Are the Dursleys rich?
A survey to determine who people think are rich - and who's not - by looking at fictional characters and other case...
17/04 The Foundation Myth
In Asimov's Foundation series, every time the situation seems darkest, a brilliant leader will come up with an amazing plan that snatches victory from the jaws of defeat. But does this stand up in...
13/04 Links for April
Returning after a week away, a post on links I read in the last month or...
01/04 A Modest Proposal for Currency Reform
The Government must do more to maximise the opportunities for Brexit. We will be fobbed off no longer by blue passports. Only the full restoration of pre-decimal currency can tame rampant...
29/03 Answers to Questions
Last week I invited people to 'Ask me Anything' and got some great questions in response, from 'If you lived in America, where would you stand politically?' to 'If you knew everything that you know...
25/03 Imagined Editorial Conversations
Some of the best books or films do things which seem to break all the rules - and yet are pure gold. I imagine some of these ideas pitched to an unsympathetic editor with no...
21/03 Ask Me Anything
Readers'...
18/03 Against Effective Altruism
Well, not so much 'against' as 'nuanced disagreement', but who wants that in a...
09/03 Five Playlists
Five playlists I've put together over the last few years with various themes, and the story of how each...
03/03 Thoughts on Sue Gray
When former Cabinet Secretaries become peers they traditionally join the cross-benches, rather than any party. For a senior figure such as Sue Gray to move straight to such a political role is...
26/02 From the Archives
I've added an Archive page to the blog. I've listed below five of my favourite or most read posts from 'ye olden days'....
21/02 The Bowdlerism of Roald Dahl Should Prompt a Reconsideration of Copyright Law
The bowdlerism of Roald Dahl's works is an outrageous attack upon our literary heritage. How can a faceless corporation be allowed to censor a set of children's books beloved by multiple generations?...
11/02 Random thoughts on a framework for thinking about careers
I recently came across an interesting diagram that showed different things that you might want from a job or career. I can’t remember where I saw it, but I’ve recreated a version of it...
03/02 The Case for Lúthien Tinúviel to be the next Disney Princess
Expanding upon an idea I’ve mentioned before, this piece sets out why Lúthien Tinúviel, the character created by J. R. R. Tolkien, is the perfect candidate to be the next Disney Princess...
26/01 Prediction Contest: Summary Results
A summary of the entries of the 2023 Prediction...
21/01 Do Protests Work?
The three biggest protests in the UK over the last two decades - against the Iraq War, against the ban on fox hunting and to not leave the EU - were unsuccessful. So do protests work? And what do we...
15/01 Ten films that are better than the book
We all know the book is always better than the film - and in 90% of occasions, that's true, especially when it's a good book. Below I look at ten examples, and one honourable mention, that are the...
12/01 2023 Prediction Contest
A prediction contest for 2023, featuring UK politics and economy, global politics and world events and science, the arts and miscellany. Read on to find out more and...
06/01 Christmas Quiz XVII: Answers and Results
Christmas Quiz XVII answers and results are now...

2022

31/12 The other works of George R. R. Martin
In the last couple of years I've enjoyed exploring the earlier work of George R R Martin, which I give an overview of here. Reading his earlier work has made me significantly up my (already high)...
20/12 Raptors, Racial Profiling and Religion: Adventures with ChatGPT
Song battles for and against racial profiling, angry letters to the Daily Mail, preprepared government responses to new reports, a new parable in the style of Jesus of Nazareth and a discussion of...
11/12 Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty
In which I review the recent film release Matilda: The Musical and talk about how it captures the spirit and character of the book so well, with the added bonus of some great songs. As always, if you...
27/11 Christmas Quiz XVII is now available
Christmas Quiz XVII is now available! This year is a cryptic quiz and the theme is 'Science'. As always, answers will be available from Epiphany with honour and glory to the highest scoring...
20/11 Names With Incongruous Associations
Enola, Cluny, Gilead and Samaritans – what connects these names? As always, if you enjoy what you read here, you can sign up free to receive an email update each time I post by entering your...
12/11 Twelve thoughts on the Musk / Twitter saga
Twelve quick thoughts on the ongoing Musk / Twitter saga. In short: plus ca change, plus ca meme. As always, if you enjoy what you read here, you can sign up free to receive an email update each time...
23/10 A World Without COVID: On the (Un)Governability of the Tory Party
The global impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are clearly far more significant than their impact upon the Conservative Party. Given, however, that it is the psychodrama of the latter that is currently...
30/09 The Rings of Power: Early Thoughts
In a word: mixed. In a sentence: rich, sumptuous but oh, so slow. In more detail: read on to see. As always, if you enjoy what you read here, you can sign up free to receive an email update each time...
20/09 Blogging again and next Christmas Quiz
After an almost three year hiatus while I was working in government, I am blogging again on books, politics and miscellany. I’ll be aiming to post at least once a week: if you want to receive...
06/01 Christmas Quiz XVI – Answers
The answers to Christmas Quiz XVI are now available here. This year, for the first time ever, we had two joint winners on 100%! I set the cut-off for the Honour Roll at 80, as 90 would have been too...

2021

28/11 Christmas Quiz XVI
Christmas Quix XVI is out! This year the theme is History, there are ten rounds and, within each round, all answers are in chronological order. As always, answers will be available from Epiphany with...
07/01 Christmas Quiz XV – Answers
The answers to Christmas Quiz XV are now available here. This year, the winner with a rare perfect score of 100 was Alex Morris, Alex Craven and friends. The full honour roll is: 1. Alex Morris, Alex...

2020

29/11 Christmas Quiz XV
Christmas Quix XV is out! This year it is a cryptic quiz, with all answers the names of individuals. There are ten themed rounds of ten questions each. As always, answers will be available from...
28/02 The ’80s called: Usborne Puzzle Adventures
I’ve recently been thoroughly enjoying redoing the Usborne Puzzle Adventure series with my son (just turned 6). He’s at the age where he can do some of the puzzles by himself and most of...
22/02 Cooperation and Defection in the SSC Prisoner’s Dilemma
In this year’s Slate Star Codex annual survey Scott Alexander tabled a prisoner’s dilemma exercise with a difference: there was real money at stake. Two of the several thousand people who...
12/02 Why the Gods of Brexit smile upon Tim Shipman
There’s a classic structure common to many science-fiction or fantasy trilogies, which is perhaps epitomised by the original Star Wars trilogy. In the first installment, the protagonists are...
07/02 No, you are not of ‘greater moral value’
I loathe the expression ‘check your privilege’ – it serves entirely to silence debate and foster division – but I did have an occasion yesterday when I truly understood the...
05/02 What really makes a difference in tackling climate change
There’s a very good article which a friend shared recently which talks about how we are coming close to ‘peak Carbon’ – the point at which global carbon emissions start coming...
31/01 Heroes of Brexit
Today, at 11pm, the UK will formally leave the European Union and regain its status as an independent nation. The struggle to secure British independence has been a generational one, secured in the...
25/01 Playlist: Good Vibrations
I’ll be the first to admit that this playlist didn’t have the same thought and consideration put into it as Driving or Resistance – it was more about throwing some happy-sounding...
25/01 Visions in Exile: An Update
For those who have been waiting a long, long time for the sequel to my first book, Imperial Visions, there is good news! I’ve hit a key milestone for the sequel, Visions in Exile: I’ve...
19/01 Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time
Minor spoilers for A Wrinkle in Time. I first read this book nearly thirty years ago. It stands out in my memory as one of the few books I read at that age – perhaps eight or nine – that...
15/01 GuestBlog: ‘Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold’: Where next for the Liberal Democrats?
Jack Nicholls was once very nearly a political academic, but is now another thing. He considers himself an egalitarian liberal and Euro-pragmatist. He’s gotten used to the wilderness now. All...
13/01 2019: Year in Review
2019 was a bit of a crazy year on all fronts. A lot of things happened that weren’t predicted and where I ended up at the end was, in many areas, very different from where I started. Personal...
09/01 What If? A Brexit Fantasy
This post is a fiction, a fantasy. The subject of this post was chosen by the winner of my pre-election sweepstake. It is intended to be plausible (though see the afterword), rather than probable,...
06/01 Christmas Quiz XIV: Winner, Honour Roll and Answers
The answers are now out for Christmas Quiz XIV, Sequences. Download the answers here. This year Alex Morris, Alex Craven and friends triumphs again, this time with a sole victory – and five and...
06/01 The definitive Star Wars film ranking
At last, as someone once said, this blog is finally tackling a subject of real importance. I know that many of you will be checking here today to get the Christmas Quiz answers, but as I won’t...
03/01 Christmas Quiz results out on Monday
The answers and results to Christmas Quiz XIV will be out on Monday evening. Anyone who wishes to submit answers should do so by 11.59pm UK time on Sunday evening. Now, this next part comes with the...

2019

23/12 Guestblog: The problem with the Labour Party (by Stephen Burgess)
Stephen Burgess is an academic scientist. Politically speaking, he self-identifies as left-of-centre, although he typically feels to the right-of-centre amongst other academics. He grew up with a...
20/12 Stuck for Christmas presents?
A few books written by me and friends of mine that might serve to fill those last minute ideas. For science buffs, Cosmos, the Infographic Book of Space, by astronomers Chris North and Stuart Lowe...
18/12 Age and wealth effects
When thinking about how voting patterns differ with age, people distinguish between three types of effect: Age effects: The effect is a factor of the person’s age. For example, maybe young...
16/12 Christmas Quiz Errata
With thanks to eagle-eyed quizzers, errors have been spotted in five of the questions. A full list of errata is on the page where the quiz was first posted. I will continue to update this if others...
15/12 Human fallibility and robust institutions
Note: I began writing this post before the election; I finished it after. I’ve indicated where the break is. It’s amazing that a system of a billion weasels trying to hose each other,...
11/12 It’s Brexit or Corbyn
Some of my friends reading this are fully commited You know who you’re voting for – and this post isn’t for you. Others will have voted to leave the EU. Hopefully you know that the...
06/12 Why now, not then?
There’s a good question I’ve been asked a few times over the last week, usually by people who don’t usually vote Conservative but may be considering voting for Boris next week....
01/12 Christmas Quiz XIV
Christmas Quiz XIV is now available to download! This year the theme is sequences: mathematical, historical, literary and many more. As always, all reference sources are permitted. Answers will be...
23/11 On Luxury Beliefs
I read a fascinating article recently comparing so-called ‘luxury beliefs’ to Veblen goods. The definition is as follows: ” Luxury beliefs are ideas and opinions that confer status...
18/11 Christianity in Runrig’s music
One of my favourite bands is the Scottish folk/rock band Runrig. They primarily sing songs about Scotland, occasionally with an overtly nationalist bent but more typically about the Scottish...
12/11 Defending our Veterans
In many areas, my support for conservative policies is based on pragmatism. While all political decisions have a moral dimension, quite often that position is based upon utilitarian rather than...
07/11 Christmas Quiz coming soon
With under a month until Advent, Christmas Quiz XIV is almost complete, with only 13 questions to write. This year the theme will be ‘sequences’. They could be sequences of all kind:...
05/11 Ten positive reasons to vote Conservative
With the general election just over a month away, here are ten positive reasons to vote for the Conservative Party. 1. We’ll get Brexit done. We’ll leave with the good deal Boris has...
03/11 Blogging update
As you may have noticed, blogging has been sparse recently. That was mainly because I was working as a Special Adviser which, in addition to very long hours, also meant that as part of the...
19/09 Review: Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Minimal spoilers only – no major twists, but does reveal headline content and comments on characterisation, quality of endings and so forth. I’ll admit to being a bit disappointed by this...
02/09 Influencing Higher Education Policy
A new book, Influencing Higher Education Policy: A Professional Guide to Making an Impact goes on sale today. Edited by the superb duo Debbie Mcvittie (Editor of Wonkhe) and Ant Bagshaw (formerly of...
31/08 Guest Blog: The different flavours of conservatives
A guest blog by Josh Monteiro, Pastor of Emmanuel Church, Northstowe, and written in a personal capacity. The views expressed are the author‘s alone. In biblical studies over the last 50 years,...
29/08 Era of Kingdoms
A review of the board game Era of Kingdoms. This game was the first I’d purchased on Kickstarter; I did so in part to see how easy it was to use before setting up my own (for my quiz book)....
05/08 Three detective stories
I seem to have been reading and watching a number of detective stories recently. Here are three recommendations; all very different, all very good. 1. The Mystery of the Yellow Room – Gaston...
02/08 So, I won a thing…
So, I may have impulsively entered a competition to write an article on who could best make the case for economic liberalism through the medium of Love Island, and then happened to have won it...
31/07 A Question of Trust
One of the central issues in British conservative politics at the moment is the question of trust. It goes beyond debates over whether MPs in general should honour the referendum result, or the...
27/07 On selling sandwiches
One of the things that sandwich shops – the sort where you get to choose your own fillings from a variety on display – occasionally fall down on is when they don’t have a sensible...
25/07 The Last Battle: A Great but Flawed Work
Spoilers for The Last Battle, other books in the Chronicles of Narnia, A Game of Thrones. C. S. Lewis is one of my favourite authors. He’s so good that I’ll read anything he’s...
23/07 School funding per pupil over time
I’ve been wanting for a while to get to the bottom of what’s been happening to school funding. Headteachers and campaigners argue that schools are on the edge of bankruptcy; objectively...
17/07 HEPI: Bridging the Research-Policy Divide
A link to my latest blog for the Higher Education Policy Institute on how research can more effectively influence policy. Read the full article...
14/07 Conservative Home: Three priorities for our next Prime Minister
In my latest Conservative Home article I set out three priorities for our next Prime Minister: Delivering Brexit by 31 October, with or without a deal. Promoting authentically Conservative values...
12/07 Wonkhe: A Cap and Trade Mechanism for Student Numbers
In my latest article for Wonkhe, I explore the idea of a cap and trade mechanism for student number control, as an alternative to an attainment threshold or centrally-controlled number caps. Read the...
08/07 On Communists
First they came for the Communists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Communist Then they came for the Socialists And I did not speak out Because I was not a Socialist Then they came for the...
05/07 Why I’m backing Boris
Delivering Brexit by 31 October, championing conservative values and investing in front-line public services – and the only candidate who can stop Corbyn and Farage in the next general...
03/07 The EU wishes to become a nation state
Here are the aims of the next President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyden. She wants to see “A united states of Europe – run along the lines of the federal states of...
30/06 Call for Guest Bloggers
A call for those who’d like to write a guest post for this site. In particular, I would be interested in featuring: 1) Posts on political/economic topics that I think are important to explore,...
28/06 Looking along a light-beam
I’ve recently started reading the Chronicles of Narnia to my eldest child and, even though we are bringing up our children in the Christian faith, I’ve taken a deliberate decision to not...
26/06 A History of the World in 100 Pictures
I recently read a brilliant children’s non-fiction book by Usborne, A History of the World in 100 Pictures. Last year I suggested that the goal of the compulsory years of the secondary school...
24/06 Religious discrimination in Canada
Last week the government of Quebec passed a discriminatory law that would ban the wearing of kippah (skull caps), turbans and hijabs (headscarfs), among other religious symbols, for all public...
21/06 My Dream Tory Cabinet
Preamble: I’m supporting Boris in the leadership election and for the purposes of this article am assuming that, as the polls suggest, he will win the membership vote. I’ll save the...
18/06 Ten Thinkers that Have Influenced Me
Defining influence is tricky. We have all undoubtedly been influenced by many people; in particular parents, teachers, friends and others we spend time with. Yet when talking with others about about...
13/06 Website Updates
I’ve recently made a number of updates to this website. Highlights include: Adding a Patreon, in case anyone enjoys or values this blog enough to want to support it financially (click the link...
08/06 Signal-boosting: Free Speech
A short, eloquent and powerful explanation of why, ‘But free speech only means the government can’t arrest you,’ is a terrible defence for those who seek to defend silencing others....
07/06 Prorogation, Salisbury and Self-Denying Ordinances
“We’ve gone from a democratic exercise involving over 33 million people to the future direction of the country being decided by c.100k+ people while making the rules up as we go along and...
02/06 Five tit-bits from Ashcroft’s European Election poll
As he often does, Lord Ashcroft did a large post-election poll of over 10,000 voters which looked in detail at who people voted for, who they’d previously voted for and why they voted. The full...
30/05 Initial thoughts on the Augar Review
The Augar Review of Post-18 Education was published today. Excellent summaries can be found on Wonkhe and elsewhere. My initial thoughts on its recommendations are below. Overall, it’s a highly...
29/05 Dawkins, Haidt and Harari on Religion
It’s fascinating to compare the different views of Dawkins, Haidt and Harari on religion. All three approach it from a sociological/evolutionary perspective but small differences in assumptions...
24/05 After May: The Way Forward for our Nation
With May’s departure, the below sets out how I hope that events will unfold for the nation, and for the Conservative Party, over the next few months. 1. After a robust but civil contest, a Tory...
23/05 Leave or Remain? A 2019 Spotter’s Guide to MPs
I had a conversation this week in which I referred to MPs as being Remain or Leave supporters, based on their 2016 vote. That person said, very reasonably, “Shouldn’t we be base things on...
21/05 How to win broad support for green taxes
Three word answer: cut other taxes. Traditionally, Green parties sit on the left of the political spectrum. But environmentalism, in its broader sense, enjoys genuine public support across political...
17/05 ‘Don’t know they’re born’
A major reason why young social progressives are turning against free speech is that they can’t imagine being in a situation where the authorities don’t share their values. This comes...
15/05 Wonkhe: In Defence of Academic Freedon
In my latest piece for Wonkhe I defend academic freedom and the importance of allowing those who would challenge orthodoxy to speak out without being silenced. I also set out some simple steps which...
13/05 Harvard descends to new lows in the war on academic freedom
It’s a fundamental of our system of justice that anyone accused of a crime, however vile, deserves a fair trial and the right to a defence. This applies to everyone: murderers, rapists,...
12/05 Review: Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
Minimal spoilers only – no major twists, but does reveal headline content and comments on characterisation, quality of endings and so forth. A brilliant collection of science-fiction short stories....
09/05 It would be folly for either side to count on victory in a second referendum
In my latest piece for Conservative Home, I argue that the febrile politic climate makes the result of a second Brexit referendum inherently unpredictable. This was actually written two weeks ago,...
07/05 Thoughts on the Local Elections
This may have been the election in which the Lib Dems finally put tuition fees and the Coalition years behind them. Despite their success, it’s worth noting they still won fewer councillors...
03/05 My local election result
Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in my attempt to be elected as a Conservative Councillor for my local ward of Panshanger in the Borough of Welwyn Hatfield. Last year the Conservatives lost this ward...
01/05 Jurassic Park/World Films: the Definitive Ranking
Having at long last watched Jurassic Park III and been pleasantly surprised, I now feel able to give an informed opinion about their relative quality, from best to worst. 1. Jurassic Park. The...
28/04 Twelve posts from my first year of blogging
A year after this blog (re)started, I thought I’d share a dozen of my favourite posts. A mixture of those that were most read and most commented on at the time (on here or on Facebook/Twitter)...
20/04 Book Review: The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure by Gerald Durrell
One of Gerald Durrell’s less well-known books, I first read this myself as a child and have recently read it to my own son, aged five. It was an amazing hit – we read the whole book (95...
18/04 How Identity Politics Divides Us
Those of us who oppose to identity politics often do so because we believe that it is a worldview that increases societal division, by encouraging people to divide themselves into groups within...
15/04 Wonkhe: What happens to your consultation responses?
In my latest piece on Wonkhe, I shed some light on how the government goes about processing responses to a consultation. Read the full article by following the link below....
13/04 Ten Things I’ve Learned From Canvassing
With postal votes for the local elections landing on people’s doorsteps today, I thought I’d share 10 things I’ve learned from canvassing over the last few months, while I’ve...
11/04 Rights vs Freedoms
Note that these are not new ideas; they have been discussed extensively in academia and elsewhere. But it is a lens that I find can be helpful. In some recent reading and discussions a concept that...
08/04 On Leaving the Civil Service
Almost a year ago today I formally left the civil service. Handing in my notice was one of the hardest things I’ve voluntarily done. I’d joined the civil service immediately after leaving...
05/04 Confirmation Bias and Vote Leave’s Crimes
The differing opinions over whether the fact that Vote Leave broke electoral law had any impact on the result of the Brexit Referendum offer one of the clearest examples of confirmation bias in...
30/03 Poll: What’s the best term for the cultural left?
One of the things I oscillate on is what to call what the ‘cultural left’, ‘progressive’ or so-called ‘socially liberal’ political ideology. By this I mean the ideology which puts...
26/03 HEPI: Comparing a numbers cap with an attainment threshold
In my latest blog for the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), I consider whether a numbers cap or an attainment threshold would be preferable, should the government choose to limit the number...
23/03 The death of democracy?
June 2020. A vote of no-confidence has toppled the government and precipitated a general election. After one of the bitterest, most rancorous campaigns in British history, a divided nation goes to...
21/03 Quiz Time 3.0 is now live
The latest version of the Quiz Time:Cryptic Challenge iPhone app has now been released. Created by my friend Chris Bush and me(1), this is one of our biggest updates yet and features: Book Quiz...
16/03 How times change
As someone who grew up in the ’90s, one of the things I find most surreal about current political debates is the left’s whole-hearted embrace of global capitalism. I was a teenager in the...
10/03 Playlist: Resistance
A couple of weeks ago I was looking to create another playlist for long car journeys, ideally satisfying the constraints that the rest of my family would also enjoy, or at least tolerate it. The last...
07/03 Personal opinion: I really dislike World Book Day
This may be more controversial than my posts on Brexit, but as an avid book-lover I really dislike World Book Day. In particular, I dislike the way the primary focus of the day is about dressing up....
04/03 My Submission to the TEF Independent Review
I’ve made a submission to the Independent Review of the TEF. The submission: Sets out the strategic imperative and goals of the TEF. Looks at what essential elements are needed to achieve those...
25/02 Elisha was a Druid, and other hypotheses
What if well known figures from the Bible were really characters from D&D? Elijah (Cleric, NG): The most famous prophet of all, Elijah is the archetype of the Cleric. A holy man, raising the...
20/02 Book Quiz Coming Soon
We will very shortly be launching the next exciting update to the Quiz Time! Cryptic Challenge app. The new update will contain: A new quiz: 100 new cryptic questions based on books. The launch of...
18/02 We have nothing to fear from No Deal
In my latest article for Conservative Home, I draw on my 2014 Brexit paper to show that we have nothing to fear from No Deal and set out high level policy proposals for how we would make it a...
14/02 How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Brexit
My latest post on Wonkhe considers five silver linings for the university sector on Brexit. ” Our sector’s values and culture are not determined by whether laws are made in Brussels,...
12/02 ‘No car is better than a bad car’
(Alice and Bob are buying a car. Bob wishes they weren’t buying a car. The reason they need to is because Alice has got a new job, which is further away from home, and for which she needs a...
09/02 Twilight Struggle
Would anyone be interested in a ‘correspondence’ game of Twilight Struggle? Twilight Struggle is a great two-player game based on the Cold War. The two players represent the US and USSR...
07/02 Wonkhe: The virtues of university giving
In my latest article for Wonkhe, I set out the moral case for why graduates should seriously consider donating to their university. As it’s a Wonkhe piece, the piece is written for an audience...
06/02 Panshanger February Leaflet
My February leaflet for Panshanger, which explores what a councillor actually does, provides an update on the campaign to save Gosling Sports Hall and sets our four reasons why I’m the best...
04/02 Two Misunderstood Works
This post examines the way Springsteen’s ‘Born in the USA’ and Kipling’s ‘The Ballad of East and West’ are often misinterpreted through a literal reading of their...
02/02 Where next for Brexit?
I was proud of our Parliament this week. Despite all the divisions, Parliament – primarily Conservative, DUP and some Labour MPs – came together to reject all the amendments that would...
27/01 Raising Awareness of Gosling Sports Hall
My latest leaflet delivery to Panshanger homes focuses on raising awareness about Gosling Sports Hall. You can read the leaflet here. Thanks to some good work by community groups, the council and our...
25/01 Endless surrenders?
There’s a situation I observe that has a strange symmetry. Very often I’ll read someone on the left lamenting a series of endless surrenders to the right, such that officially left wing...
20/01 Conservative Candidate for Panshanger
As some of those reading this will know, I’m standing as the Conservative Candidate for Panshanger in the Borough Council elections this May. I’m delighted and honoured to have the...
15/01 A follow up on grammar schools
My latest Wonkhe piece summarises my recent paper on selective schools for HEPI, addresses some of the critiques and reflects on that fact that, whilst academics don’t need grammar schools for...
13/01 Save Gosling Sports Hall
Below is the text of an email I’ve sent to GLL (who run Gosling) urging them to reconsider their decision to close Gosling Sports Hall. If you live locally, do consider signing the petition, or...
12/01 Watership Down is not a Children’s Book
Chorus: Why do you cry out thus, unless at some vision of horrorCassandra: The house reeks of death and dripping blood.Chorus: How so? ‘Tis but the odour of the altar sacrifice.Cassandra: The...
10/01 Grammar Schools and Progression to Higher Education
My latest paper, published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), looks at the impact of selective schools in ensuring progress to higher education. The Impact of Selective Secondary...
09/01 Bible Analytics: What do Children’s Bibles Focus On?
We have quite a lot of children’s bibles and it’s always interesting to see what each one focuses on. This post carries out some fairly surface level analysis of how much time different...
06/01 Christmas Quiz XIII: Winners, Honour Roll and Answers
The answers are now out for Christmas Quiz III, Countries and Regions! Download the answers here. This year we have a joint winner. On 99 points each, we have Alex Morris, Alex Craven and friends;...
05/01 Predictions for a No-Deal Brexit
Many people are talking of leaving the EU without a deal as being a disaster. Even setting aside the obviously histrionic claims that it will cause millions of deaths, normally serious commentators...
04/01 2018: First Year of the New Blog
A short look back on my blogging over 2018. I started blogging again in April 2018. In the roughly nine months of that year I wrote just over 95 blog posts, received just over 10,000 views and 214...

2018

31/12 Soul Trader
Inspired by a trip to see Faust shortly before Christmas. Selling your soul to the Devil is a mug’s game. Not only is the expected outcome (in a mathematical sense) infinitely bad, it is...
27/12 Quiz Time: City Quiz Added
The City Quiz (Christmas Quiz III) has been added to the Quiz Time App! Free to download and with in-game hints if needed, why not try it out? Created by a talented friend of mine. Go to the App...
24/12 Herman Wouk – the 20th / 21st century’s greatest author
What makes a great author? Some would argue that popularity should be the key measure, with best-selling authors the clear champions of the writing world. The public is the true test of what is great...
21/12 Wonkhe: Student Union Reform
An ‘adversarial collaboration’ between myself and Jim Dickinson goes live on Wonkhe today, debating whether or not student unions are in need of significant reform. I put the case that...
18/12 Conservative Home: £9,250 tuition fees: Bad for students, Bad for Society, Bad for the Conservative Party
In my latest Conservative Home article I set out why a major reduction in university tuition fees (replaced by teaching grant based on the cost to deliver the coursr) isn’t just the right thing...
15/12 Never Miss a Post
Do you enjoy reading this blog? If so, why not sign up to follow it using the ‘Follow’ button to the right. You’ll receive an email notification every time I make a new post, ensuring you never...
12/12 Macron, Brexit and the bankruptcy of so-called ‘centrism’
I’ve tried not to give a blow by blow account of the Brexit negotiations. But with riots against Macron in their fourth week in France, our negotiations at an impasse and our government...
08/12 Five Questions Meme
With thanks to liv for posting the meme and for setting me the questions below. For those not familiar, the way it works is that anyone who would like questions can ask for them; they then get set...
05/12 Brexit Possibilities
It’s often difficulty trying to estimate probabilities, particularly when there are many different potential futures. Availability bias means we tend to assign a greater weight to the options...
03/12 Christmas Quiz XIII: Errata
I’ve discovered two duplicate answers on Christmas Quiz XIII: 63 and 75 29 and 36 Questions 36 and 75 have been replaced by new clues. Download the updated quiz...
02/12 Christmas Quiz XIII is now live!
Christmas Quiz III is now live! The theme this year is countries and regions: all answers are the names of countries or regions. All clues are based purely on the name of the country or region and...
30/11 Belated Budget thoughts and ‘the end of austerity’
Brexit might be the news of the day right now, but last month’s Budget remains an important turning point. I’ve had a few people ask me how there seemed to be more money around in the...
26/11 Quiz Time – A new app is available
A talented friend, Chris Bush, has created an app for the Christmas Quizzes. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/quiz-time-underground/id1443669257?mt=8 Available from the link above, the app currently...
13/11 My Kickstarter Experience
I’ve recently concluded my first experience of using Kickstarter to launch a project and have been pleasantly surprised by the experience. he project in question was The Twelve Quizzes of...
10/11 Who would you put on the £50 Note?
The Bank of England is undertaking an exercise to ask people to nominate a scientist to go on the https://app.keysurvey.co.uk/f/1348443/10fc/ Anyone can vote and there is no shortlist (though the...
09/11 Guest Post: The Truth Behind the Cluck
A guest blog by Jean Blakey. A mountain of people have asked me about the meaning behind my children’s book Cluck Cluck Duck and a smattering have given me their interpretation of the book....
04/11 Conservative Home: We Must recapture the commanding heights of society from the left
In my latest article for Conservative Home, I discuss how the right has ceded the core ground of society’s opinion formers and thought leaders to the left, and what we might do to reclaim it....
31/10 The Twelve Quizzes of Christmas is available to order now
My new book, The Twelve Quizzes of Christmas, is now available to order. A compendium of mind-bending and perplexing questions guaranteed to set your mind boggling. With twelve quizzes, each with its...
30/10 Free Will vs Predestination: A Difference between Right and Left
So many of the disagreements between those on the right and those on the left can be explained by differing attitudes on the question of free will vs predestination. I am not speaking here of the...
27/10 A Strategy Game I Would Like to See
In all strategy games that I’m aware of, whether board games or computer games, the player has instantaneous access to knowledge and instantaneous control of entities under their control. There may...
26/10 Wonkhe: Subject TEF
My lastest Wonkhe article looks at the latest government updates on subject level TEF, the first major policy release since I was involved. You can read the full article here: An outsider’s...
15/10 Why don’t Remain supporters talk about UK citizens in Europe?
One of the starkest aspects of how divided our society is currently, is in the way language can differ so greatly even on matters where people are in agreement. I follow many active Remain supporters...
13/10 More on ‘Gay Cakes’
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Asher’s Bakery over whether they were allowed to refuse to bake a cake bearing the slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’. They agreed...
06/10 My first Conservative Party Conference
This week I attended my first ever Conservative Party Conference (for that matter, my first ever political conference). As a civil servant, these had been strictly off limits, a banned political...
25/09 Wonkhe: A Hierarchy of Purposes in Higher Education
My latest Wonkhe article looks at the various purposes fulfilled by higher education and concludes that it’s time to make receiving a degree conditional upon passing a basic national test in...
24/09 D&D Political Alignments
YouGov recently put out the results of a poll which had attempted to classify the UK population in terms of D&D Alignment. Whilst an awesome concept, it did also produce a few peculiar results,...
17/09 Two Charlies
I recently reread Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. It’s fascinating that for two books that are so similar – same author, same series, same...
10/09 A University Challenge Ranking
Many football fans have a complex system of which team to support in any given match, based on a wide variety of factors that may appear arbitrary and inpenetrable to the outsider, but internally to...
07/09 A Better Secondary School History Curriculum
There are three years of compulsory history in secondary school. That’s just nine terms. If history at primary school is about awakening the love of learning, and more advanced study is about...
26/08 Postmodernism and the Devil
“Roper: So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law! More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? Roper: I’d cut down every law in England...
22/08 Book Review: World Order by Henry Kissinger
‘Magisterial’ and ‘epic’ are all words that come to mind to describe Kissinger’s magnum opus, written in 2014 when he was 91. Certainly a book that begins a...
16/08 Chesterton’s Poetry
Chesterton is one of my favourite authors; an author of which I’ll read almost anything he wrote, regardless of what it is. His writing catches you up with his wonderfully lyrical style, filled...
09/08 A Tourist’s Guide to New Orleans
A friend recently asked me for some advice on what to see and do when visiting New Orleans. I know the city fairly well – my Dad’s whole family lives there so I’ve visited 25-30...
07/08 Some Thoughts on the Culture Wars
It’s hard to imagine now just how controversial and offensive Monty Python’s Life of Brian was when it first came out. BBC and ITV refused to show it, it was banned by a number of town councils...
03/08 A Satire on Academic Politics
Cornford’s ‘Microcosmographia Academica’ (1908) remains my favourite satire on academic politics. For those unfamiliar with it, it takes the form of being a guide to the young...
31/07 Lies, Half-Truths and Opinions: The Good Friday Agreement and the Irish Border
Fact: The Good Friday Agreement does not prohibit a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Stating that it does is an incorrect factual statement, and therefore either an...
28/07 The Twelve Quizzes of Christmas: Preorders
I’m collecting expressions of interest for pre-orders my forthcoming book, The Twelve Quizzes of Christmas. If I get sufficient interest, I’ll be able to arrange a bulk order which would...
27/07 A Social Policy Trilemma
There is a trilemma in economics that states that a nation can only have two of the following three things: – Free movement of capital – A fixed monetary exchange rate – An...
24/07 Stellaris: The T’Jell Wars
The continued story of my narrative from Stellaris, Paradox’s Grand Strategy space game. As you can read about here, I am playing a nation of egalitarian spiritualist humans, who spend their...
21/07 Announcing the Twelve Quizzes of Christmas!
Every year for a dozen years I’ve produced a Christmas Quiz, with an increasing number of people doing it each year. My back catalogue and list of winners can be found here. This autumn...
19/07 Conservative Home: To ensure that Chequers is the end of the concessions, prepare swiftly and publicly for No Deal
In my latest Conservative Home article I argue that we should support the Chequers deal – but only if we simultaneously ramp up preparations for no deal, to ensure no more concessions. I also...
18/07 Three Ways to Improve Referenda
Whilst it’s right that Vote Leave are being fined, it’s absurd to suggest that this renders the result invalid. That being said, this – and other events before, during and after the...
17/07 Wonkhe: Engaging Effectively
My latest Wonkhe article – how to engage civil servants effectively. I set out five dos and don’ts for government engagement. You can read the full article below: How to engage civil...
15/07 Three Months of Blogging
I’ve now been blogging for exactly three months. During that time I’ve: – Published 47 posts – Had 117 comments – Had 5,296 views – averaging just under 2000 a...
13/07 How to make the good guys look bad…
I’ve recently finished reading the Family D’Alembert series by E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith and Stephen Goldin, which could be summed up as a not-particularly-high-quality but...
09/07 Today’s Events – Reflections from a Leave Voter
I spent most of Sunday trying to see the Chequers Brexit agreement in the best positive light. The deal seemed a long way from what I would have liked to see in a Brexit – which, as I’ve...
08/07 Happy Birthday, NHS
Happy Birthday, NHS! I’m proud to celebrate the 70th anniversary of one of Britain’s best and most brilliant institutions. The NHS is absolutely fantastic. I’ve personally been...
05/07 Stellaris: Narratives from a Space Extravaganza
I recently took advantage of some time in airports and hotels to return to Stellaris, Paradox’s interstellar grand strategy game. I had played a few games a couple of years ago and felt it had...
03/07 Guest Post: “The Late Lord”: John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, and the formation of a historical reputation
This is a guest post by Dr. Jacqueline Reiter about her book, The Late Lord: the life of John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham (Pen and Sword, 2017). About 18 months ago I published my first biography, The...
02/07 Gay Cakes and the Concept of a Legitimate Customer
For some reason, bakeries have found themselves at the forefront of the culture war between gay rights and freedom of religion activists, with cases in both the UK and the US recently ending up in...
01/07 Quarterly Book Round Up: July 2018
The quarterly book review provides a non-exhaustive list of some of the books I read and enjoyed in the previous quarter. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) I always feel mildly guilty reading Archer,...
27/06 Conservative Home article: Tranferrable Tax Allowances and Free Child Care
My latest article on Conservative Home argues that families should be offered a choice between the 30 hours of free childcare or a transferable tax allowance, to enable a more genuine choice between...
24/06 A model of Twitter growth
It took 41 days for my Twitter followers to double in number from 50 to 100. It took a further 26 for the number to double again, from 100 to 200. At the moment the growth is slightly faster than...
19/06 Initial Hypothesis: The Game of Teaching Excellence
Download and print a fully playable game based on the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF). A card game for 2-5 players, lasting 30-40 minutes, Initial Hypothesis is a fast-paced...
18/06 Brexit Paper now online
I’ve added a new Current Affairs section to the website. In addition to links to my articles elsewhere on the internet, the major addition is the link to my 2014 paper on Brexit, that won the...
17/06 Party Game: Lord of the Rings Exegesis
As Shakespeare tells us, “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” And indeed, throughout history there have been many occasions in which people on either side of an argument have...
16/06 Reevaluating Twitter
When I joined Twitter, two months ago, I did so somewhat reluctantly. Although it seemed necessary to have a presence there if trying to communicate in the modern age, my impression of it was almost...
12/06 Making Markets Work: Rail Franchising
According to some polls, 60% of people think that the rail network should be nationalised, whilst only 25% believe it should remain in private hands. With the chaos affecting the Thameslink and Great...
10/06 Guest Post: Cosmos, The Infographic Book of Space
This is a guest post by Dr Chris North, astronomer and prolific commented on this blog, about his book Cosmos, The Infographic Book of Space. Over the years I’ve written a few popular science...
08/06 Blogging Survey Results
Whilst perhaps less exciting than yesterday’s HEPI / Advance HE Student Academic Experience Survey results, see below the results of my recent blogging survey. Many thanks to all who completed...
05/06 A New University Ranking
Ranking universities by the proportion of entrants who go on to graduate jobs or further study. The higher education landscape is blessed with many detailed and accurate datasets. Many of the most...
04/06 Wonkhe: Value for Money for Whom?
Is going to university value for money? In my latest Wonkhe article I look at misalignments between the individual and the state when it comes to assessing value for money, examine the increasing...
03/06 The Annotated Pratchett
Spreading awareness of a very enjoyable site I found recently, The Annotated Pratchett – a site that explains many of the references in Terry Pratchett’s books. It’s particularly...
02/06 “Have had enough of experts…”: An attempt to find common ground
No phrase of the Leave campaign is more vilified than Michael Gove’s, “I think the people in this country have had enough of experts…”. Unlike many of the other contentious...
01/06 Blog Feedback Survey
Following the first full month of blogging, I wanted to carry out a survey to get feedback on the types of posts that people enjoy reading. Whether you’re a regular or occasional visitor, a...
29/05 Votes at 16: A Call for Consistency
I’m not an expert on child development. I don’t know whether 17 is the right age at which we should let people get a driving license, or whether this should be changed to 16 or 18. Similarly, I...
26/05 A More Transparent Tax System
One of the challenges of the tax system is how complex it is. And that’s not just in terms of the rules and sub-rules, but because it’s hard for people to really visualise what the limits mean....
24/05 Guest Blogger Programme Announced
“I’m pleased to be announcing a guest blogger programme, showcasing interests or achievements of friends and members of the edrith community that are likely to be of interest to the wider...
23/05 Things I’ve Learned from Games
People often underestimate how much you can learn from games. On a simply factual level, I learned most of my British geography from The Great Game of Britain, a light-hearted children’s game...
21/05 Making Markets Work: Public Procurement
Marking Markets Work is a series exploring how the free market can operate more effectively to deliver benefits to ordinary working people. It affirms that the free market has been the best and most...
18/05 Wonkhe: Grade Inflation: A Clear and Present Danger
My latest Wonkhe post, this time on the epidemic of grade inflation in our universities. Read the full article here. Grade inflation: a clear and present...
18/05 Debut Conservative Home piece
My debut article for Conservative Home has been published: “Five Tests for a Good Brexit Deal.” In it, I briefly review progress on negotiation since Brexit and then set out recommended...
17/05 Five Things We’ve Learned From Science
Because there’s not been much progress in the fundamentals of physics – the Standard Model is still essentially the same as it was 30 years ago – it can sometimes feel that...
15/05 Started the Christmas Quiz
So, I’ve finally started work on Christmas Quiz XIII, only five months behind schedule! Still, six months to go before advent, so plenty of time yet to ensure it’s suitable challenging....
14/05 Against Means-Testing; OR, I Agree with Tony Benn (on this issue)
Means testing(1) is everywhere these days. It’s in maintenance grants and child benefit, job-seeker’s allowance and housing benefit and much more. Sometimes it seems that almost every new...
13/05 Spread the Word
I’ve now been blogging for almost a month and am hugely encouraged by the response I’ve received – thank you to you, all of my readers. Substantive posts now regularly get well over...
12/05 Book Review: The Three Body Problem
Minimal spoilers only – less than reading the blurb of the three books. Quite simply the best science fiction I’ve read in a decade. Cixin Liu’s Three Body Problem, with its two...
10/05 More Deals and No Deals
In the discussions (on and offline) following my recent post ‘No Deal is Better than a Bad Deal’, one idea that came up a number of times was that there was a third option, to call the...
09/05 On the Categorisation of Hymns
NB: This is intended to be a light-hearted and not entirely serious piece. I do not consider the classification below to be based on far reaching principles or to have great explanatory power....
07/05 No Deal is Better than a Bad Deal
A simple statement, this nevertheless seems to cause consternation in the hearts of those who never wished to leave the EU. And yet it is trivially, self-evidently true. Leaving aside the utter folly...
06/05 Answer to Monday’s Puzzle
On Monday I posted the following puzzle: “A prisoner is given a choice between two doors; one of which leads to freedom and the other of which leads to certain death. In front of the doors...
05/05 Democracy in Action
I attended my first election counting on Thursday evening. If you’ve never been to one, it’s a sight to see. Utterly simple yet incredibly effective; a community coming together to...
01/05 Plastic Bags, Social Change and Competition
Tesco and Morrisons have stopped providing plastic bags for 5p – instead, the cheapest bag you can buy costs 10p (and is slightly higher quality, intended for reuse). Asda has announced it...
30/04 A Logic Puzzle
Most readers are probably familiar with the old chestnut of two doors and two guards, one of which always tells the truth and one of which always lies. But what about if we have three guards? This is...
27/04 Driving Music
A driving playlist I created a few weeks ago. I was doing a lot of motorway driving at the time, so this primarily consists of upbeat, energetic tracks; the sort of music you want blasting out loudly...
26/04 In Defence of First Past the Post
Despite the British people opting in favour of first-past-the-post (FPTP) by a decisive 68:32 margin, in many of the circles I move support for other voting systems, in particular proportional...
23/04 Twitter follow button added
I am now on Twitter. I admit to not being a huge fan of Twitter – short form entries are not my favoured means of communication and I’m dubious about whether it does more social good than...
22/04 Quarterly Book Round-up – April 2018
Reviving a series from the former incarnation of this blog, the quarterly book review provides a non-exhaustive list of some of the books I read and enjoyed in the previous quarter. This particular...
20/04 Four political tribes
A lot of commenters have observed, particularly post-Brexit, that the old divide between left and right seems to be breaking down. At the last election, age and level of education were better...
17/04 A Jewel Within Clay: The Tolkien Edit
I’m a huge fan of Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings. Despite a couple of flaws – in particular, repeated defamation of secondary characters in The Two Towers...
16/04 First Wonkhe contribution
My first article as a Contributing Editor of Wonkhe has been published: ‘In defence of archaic governance structures’. In it, I make the case for the restoration of academic...
12/03 The First Ten Posts: A Preview
In advance of blogging recommencing on 16th April, a sneak preview of what I anticipate the first ten posts will be(1). I fully reserve the right to insert other posts into this list should I change...
09/03 Site updated to Nisarg theme
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03/03 Moderation policy published
A moderation policy has been added to the...
04/02 Blogging will recommence on 16 April
After a four year hiatus, blogging will recommence on 16 April. I intend to blog about a range of subjects, loosely grouped around the theme of books, politics, philosophy, games and other...