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Correlation ain’t causation. But for some time I have been noticing that the correlations between certain aspects of solar activity and certain aspects of climate are getting really rather impressive — far more so than anything relating to carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide certainly can affect climate, but so for sure can other things, and in […]

Rational Optimism in a tabloid To mark today’s UK publication of The Rational Optimist in paperback, I have written an article for The Sun newspaper: FOR the past month, the news has been all bad – war, recession, riot, tsunami, earthquake, nuclear disaster, inflation, cuts… and the cricket. But while the news is always bad, there […]

Andrew Mayne on social biases in studies of the psychology of choice Guest post by Andrew Mayne   “Too much choice can be a bad thing-not just for the individual, but for society.” Pop quiz, was the above statement made by? A. Vladimir Lenin B. Scientists in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science Before I tell […]

Tim Worstall riffs on William Baumol to fascinating effect: One way of putting which is that increasing labour productivity in services is more difficult than improving it in manufacturing. Canonically, we cannot get a symphony orchestra to be more productive by playing at twice the speed. So, ally this with wages being determined by average […]

As a general rule, if George Monbiot agrees with you, start worrying you may be wrong. The Fukushima nuclear crisis has made Monbiot a fan of nuclear power, at just the time when my doubts have been growing. You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. […]

My latest Wall Street Journal article is on Nick Humphrey’s theory of consciousness, as set out in his fine new book Soul Dust In ‘The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” published in 1759, Adam Smith boldly recast the question of virtue in terms of what we now call empathy (but which he called sympathy). Smith argued that we […]

Time for a re-boot to find a cheaper design?   I have written two articles in the past few days on the implications of the Fukushima nuclear crisis (accident?, incident? drama? — not sure what the right word is). This was for The Times on 16th March: The uranium price fell sharply this week. After […]

James Delingpole is on fine form: So wind farms don’t just despoil countryside, frighten horses, chop up birds, spontaneously combust, drive down property prices, madden those who live nearby with their subsonic humming, drive up electricity prices, promote rentseeking, make rich landowners richer (and everyone else poorer), ruin views, buy more electric sports cars for […]

The biggest natural killers of the last decade — Haiti’s earthquake, Burma’s cyclone and Sumatra’s tsunami — were all far, far more lethal because they struck poor countries. Robert Hardman in the Daily Mail writes: Of course, the modern world is better equipped than the ancients to survive these cataclysmic disasters. We have stronger buildings, better […]

Let’s give credit to a great founder of the English language, and not a committee This is a draft of a piece that I  wrote for The Times last week. The published version was slightly different. I strongly recommend Brian Moynahan’s wonderful book on Tyndale: This month, the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of the […]