The things I learn, as I learn them
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How the sausage is made
The UK COVID enquiry has been equal parts unbelievable and disappointing. It’s true that it’s terrifying to see how the sausage is actually made. In this case “the sausage” is the policy that would determine an entire country’s response to a pandemic which killed almost a quarter of a million people in the UK. It…
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When in doubt, work out
This is a sibling piece to When in doubt, help out. It’s a recommended response to the sense of ennui and dissatisfaction that can strike over a weekend. When we start listlessly wandering from room to room just looking for novelty, entertainment or food. Mindless grazing or doomscrolling. Work out. Now. Go for a walk,…
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When in doubt, help out
In most situations, if we’re not sure what to do, we can’t really go wrong by finding someone who struggling, and helping them. Whether we’re at work, school, home, the airport, prison, the tube – this is broadly applicable. Our world isn’t yet so overrun by Samaritans that we have a problem of well meaning…
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Teaching consequences
One of the hardest lessons that parents have to teach is about consequences. We spend a lot of time naturally shielding our kids from consequences- even without thinking about it. Replacing dropped ice creams, lost football boots, broken [insert relevant toy here]s. And then suddenly, they get to an age where we think they should…
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Taking a punt? Times it by Pi
I’m fascinated by things that we’re serially terrible at and estimating is one of them. Judging how long something will take is a tricky proposition for us humans. We overestimate our competence, underestimate the complexity, rarely factor in the inevitable curve balls and often forget to consider any clean up. If we repeat something enough, we…
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Talking past each other
Much of the time that we disagree, it’s not about fundamental issues. We might both be heading in the same direction, but we disagree about where we came from, or how we might best get to the next destination. When this happens we start talking past each other. Making points, but not addressing the key…
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Calls for destruction
It’s harder to build something than it is to knock it down. Building requires planning, coordination, resource management, funding and determination. Destruction can be achieved by a far smaller team in a far shorter time. Individuals can, under the right conditions, destroy things overnight that took thousands of people, many years to build. So when…
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Sometimes it just doesn’t work
This is the third piece I’ve written today. I don’t normally write more than one (I don’t have the patience) but the first two just didn’t work. One of them doesn’t know what it wants to be about yet, and the other isn’t suitable given what’s going on in the world. Neither would have added…
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The richness of new perspectives
The perspectives we have are distorting. They present only one side of an object, an issue or a situation. That perspective might be zoomed in, in which case we have amazing detail, but lack the clarity of the big picture. Or our perspective might be from a distance, able to see all the context, but…
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Ask an oracle
I don’t believe in tarot cards whatsoever, but I still love them. They can be beautiful and they have wonderful sense of both playfulness and mystery. To be clear, I do not believe in their ability as a supernatural tool to predict the future. But I do believe in people and imagination and the power…
Got any book recommendations?