Economicky words are just plain icky on November 26, 2017Why can’t economists just speak plainly and clearly? The dismal science has had an image problem for a long time – long enough for most people to forget that the “dismal science” insult was hurled by the despicably eloquent, racist Thomas Carlyle, in an argument over whether black plantation workers should be paid for their […]
Why did we use leaded petrol for so long? on September 2, 2017 Leaded petrol was safe. Its inventor was sure of it. Facing sceptical reporters at a press conference in October 1924, Thomas Midgley dramatically produced a container of tetraethyl lead – the additive in question – and washed his hands in it. “I’m not taking any chance whatever,” Midgley declared. “Nor would I… doing that […]
How much of the worlds wealth is hidden offshore? on August 7, 2017Would you like to pay less tax? Make a sandwich: specifically, a “double Irish, Dutch sandwich”. Suppose you’re American. You set up a company in Bermuda and sell it your intellectual property. It then sets up a subsidiary in Ireland. Now, set up another company in Ireland: it bills your European operations for amounts resembling […]
Do passports restrict economic growth? on July 10, 2017“What would we English say if we could not go from London to the Crystal Palace or from Manchester to Stockport without a passport or police officer at our heels? Depend upon it, we are not half enough grateful to God for our national privileges.” So wrote an English publisher named John Gadsby, travelling through […]
How the lift transformed the shape of our cities on June 5, 2017We don’t tend to think of lifts as mass transportation systems, but that’s what they are. They move hundreds of millions of people every day, and China alone is thought to be installing 660,000 lifts a year. The tallest building in the world, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, has more than 300,000 sq m (3.2 million sq […]
The tiny pill which gave birth to an economic revolution on May 29, 2017The contraceptive pill had profound social consequences. Everyone agrees with that. In fact, that was the point. Margaret Sanger, the birth control activist who urged scientists to develop it, wanted to liberate women sexually and socially, to put them on a more equal footing with men. But the pill wasn’t just socially revolutionary. It also […]
Grace Hoppers compiler: Computings hidden hero on February 27, 2017One, zero, zero, one, zero, one. Zero, one, one… That is the language of computers. Every clever thing your computer does – make a call, search a database, play a game – comes down to ones and zeroes. Actually, it comes down to the presence (one) or absence (zero) of a current in tiny transistors […]