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20. THE NUMBERS GAME
17/12/2020
Downing Street, Pelé, Diego Armando Maradona, the basis of the metric system, fingers and toes, scores and ratings. 10 is a bit of a common denominator for the way we organise things, and often a number synonymous in sport with the 'playmaker'. To wear the number 10 shirt somehow sets one apart. The death of a genius on 25 November got me thinking....
When it comes to measuring intelligence, Stephen Hawking's opinion was that "people who boast about their I.Q. are losers" - yet you'd be hard-pressed to find an interview which doesn't identify him as a genius or other similar label. In recent decades, conceptions of intelligence have come to encompass diverse but connected elements such as...
18. LIFE IN THE SECOND WAVE
20/10/2020
Whether it's a matter of jumping on the bandwagon or not, Spotify recognises the new norm, working from home, and has compiled 186 tracks to help you through the day(s): Work from Home with British Classics. Starting with a 44-second divertimento for flute, oboe and clarinet, a kind of classical wake-up jingle, and ending with a 30-minute trumpet...
As long ago as the fourth century BC, Aristotle observed that "man is, by nature, a social animal." It's no surprise then that so many of our most significant inventions - from the telegram in 1792 to the email in 1971 - have been in the pursuit of easier contact over great distances. Today's social media can be considered the...
'Big Brother is watching you' - familiar to readers of George Orwell's post-war dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and viewers of the TV reality show 'Big Brother'. As we noted in our blog on the language of Brexit, new terms like these have a tendency to seep into everyday conversation via current events. Who knows, fuelled by a growing...
15. THE GHOST BETWEEN THE LINES
21/07/2020