Internet Psychologist
Today is “World Wide Web Day”, when we are encouraged to celebrate the creation of the WWW. Nobody quite knows why today was selected as a global day of celebration of the web. The date does not coincide with Tim Berners-Lee’s original proposal for the web. That was submitted on 12 March 1989. Nor is it the date on which …
Tomorrow afternoon, around 9 million people will sit down to watch two grown men grunt and sweat as they fight for tennis supremacy. The Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final attracts huge audiences every year. Indeed, last year the BBC broke records, with a further 69 million viewings of the Wimbledon Championship …
The other day, I received an email, and I shouted “Hurray” out loud, to the amusement of those around me. The message said a change at work was coming. I was elated because I suggested this change over a decade ago. I wondered why it had taken so long to …
Well, what a week it has been. We can’t move for people breaking the rules. Yesterday, the Supreme Court in the USA ruled that President Trump’s tariffs were illegal. The day before, the former Prince Andrew was arrested on suspicion of breaking the rules while serving as a Trade Envoy. …
Obviously, with today being Valentine’s Day, I was going to mention love. However, over in the USA, it appears that people are falling out of love with celebrating today. The National Retail Federation’s “Valentine’s Day Data Center” shows that fewer people plan to buy gifts today than in previous years. …
Now, don’t be scared, but I want to talk about ghosts, even though I don’t believe in their existence. After all, how is it possible that a dead medieval knight, for example, can be seen riding his horse in full armour, when he probably died in bed from an infection? …
With newspapers around the world dominated by the idiotic, ignorant and insulting ramblings of an older man past his prime, you might have thought I would start this week talking about him. Instead, I want to focus our minds on something that has remained stable in British society for centuries, …
There can be no doubt that human beings can be extraordinarily resilient. This week, I listened to a radio interview with a resident of Kyiv, Ukraine. He explained that Putin’s bombers had destroyed the local heating system. Despite temperatures that were minus 15, people carried on as normally as possible. …
On Tuesday evening, I was wandering across Leicester Square in London’s West End, having just had dinner and then seen a theatre show together with my son. As we headed for the tube station after a lovely evening together, a large, hooded figure walked towards me, stretched out his arm …
It’s the time of year when The Wizard of Oz gets an outing, and families gather around to travel down that yellow brick road one more time. Children worry about the lion’s fearfulness. They get concerned by the tin man, who seizes up at the slightest provocation. Plus, they laugh …
On Thursday, I went down to Bristol to see a show. It was the only opportunity I had as the tour was coming to an end. Before the show, I went to a well-known restaurant chain for a bite to eat. There was a sign saying “Please wait to be …
The UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) dropped a clanger this week, showing they did not know how to use the web responsibly. Almost an hour before the Chancellor of the Exchequer was due to deliver her statement to the House of Commons, a Reuters journalist discovered that the entire …
If you have no idea what I mean by “Are you being too cheugy if you constantly mention your wheelhouse”, then you are probably older than a Gen Z. “Cheugy” (pronounced chew-gee) started to be used a decade or so ago and means you are trying too hard to be …
The BBC is currently in a bit of hot water. It is facing a $1 billion lawsuit threat from President Trump. He dislikes media outlets that say negative things about him. A rather stupid, lazy and crass edit by the makers of the programme, Panorama, seems to have suggested that …
At the start of this week, I couldn’t believe my ears as I was listening to the news bulletin on the radio. I heard myself saying, “How on earth could that be allowed?” The issue was that our High Streets are getting busy with unqualified people offering ultrasound scans to …