Newsletter: The Pale Blue Dot

It was a couple of hours before Donald Trump promised to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age that humanity did something extraordinary. Under an eruption of blinding white steam and churning orange fire, hundreds of tons of metal and four intrepid humans were thrust into space. The launch of Artemis II is the culmination […]

The Story: Who is Iran’s New Leader

I am hosting today’s episode of The Story podcast from The Times and The Sunday Times – and we’re exploring who Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, really is. Thrust to power during a conflict that killed his father, with the Iranian regime as it’s most vulnerable, American fire power breathing down their neck, a […]

Newsletter Version: Meet the Attention Activists

Can I have your attention, please? Professor D. Graham Burnett would like it, too. Graham is an historian of tech and science… and through his research has become so passionate about reclaiming our attention from the grip of tech giants and addictive digital media that he has started a new movement. Alongside some colleagues, friends, […]

Meet the Attention Activists

Can I have your attention, please? Professor Graham Burnett would like it, too. Graham is an historian of tech and science… and through his research has become so passionate about reclaiming our attention from the grip of tech giants that he has started a new movement. Alongside some colleagues, friends, artists, activists and other researchers… […]

The Story: how Darren and Dell could change British politics

Darren doesn’t much care for people like me. He doesn’t trust the mainstream media, and although he was happy to have a chat with me, he did wonder how I might misrepresent our conversation. I met Darren on the terraced street he calls home, in Gorton, in Greater Manchester. At the end of the street […]

Why do we feel nostalgic? Newsletter version

Last night, after bathing Molly and putting her to bed, I got stuck into one of my favourite pastimes: taking the bins out. What was once a grubby chore has become a rare moment of solace. It’s just me and the night sky… and the bins. I pause for a moment after I’ve delivered the […]

Why do we feel nostalgia?

Have you spotted this trend online of people reminiscing about, and pining for, 2016? People have been posting pictures of themselves a decade ago, getting back into the music, and using filters that have a 2016 feel about them. It’s curious on a few counts: 2016 wasn’t really that long ago, with much of characters […]

Inside the Freemasons HQ

A few weeks ago, I got an unexpected invitation. I was talking on my Times Radio show about Freemasons – one of the oldest fraternal organisations in the world. Membership is secretive, but high profile Masons have included members of the Royal Family, Prime Ministers, business leaders and least fourteen Presidents. The Freemasons have often […]

Introducing… History Undone

I have a new show to introduce you to. Well, it’s not new. It’s well established. Very well established. In fact it’s so well established, with such a loyal and dedicated fanbase, that I have been more nervous about taking on this show than almost anything I have done before. It’s called History Undone, and […]