‘Psychic’ Sally Morgan sends the lawyers in over suggestions she might not really be talking to the dead

You know who I don’t like? Spiritualists. Mediums, that lot. The ones who tell grieving mothers that they’re talking to their dead son: “Yes, I’m getting him now, he says he misses you but he’s happy.” Because, let us be honest, we can be pretty sure that they’re not speaking to anyone’s dead son, or…

Prince Charles, the ticking time-bomb for the monarchy

It’s been a funny few days for the Royal family. Last week, it was declared that this inherently unequal organisation is to be made subject to an “equality act”. And today, The Guardian reports that Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, has been given a “secret veto” on 12 separate pieces of legislation. The…

Wow

You’ll no doubt be pleased to know that this is a very short blog post. All I need to say is: watch this video on full screen, and marvel.

Dear Amazon: I love books. I also love e-books. Please let me have both

This is a sort of open letter to Amazon. And Sony. And WH Smith, and Apple, and anybody else who makes e-readers, tablets and other electronic devices for reading books on. I have a suggestion. I own an e-reader. Specifically, an Amazon Kindle. And I love it. I love being able to buy a book…

World population reaches seven billion: predictions of doom are nothing new

From Wednesday’s paper: On Monday, the world’s population will pass a new milestone. Previous dire predictions of mass starvation as human numbers have exploded have not come to pass, but can we be confident that will always be the case? Tom Chivers considers where earlier projections erred and what the future holds. In 1798, an…

A response to my David Cameron ‘pornblock’ post

I wrote a week or so ago about the “opt-in” system for online pornography which David Cameron has half-proposed, saying that not only was it confused and unworkable, it was also unnecessary. I quoted a few studies and so on, and concluded that it seemed unlikely that there is a serious problem of “sexualisation” of…

Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature results seem to vindicate ‘Climategate’ scientists. Will sceptics admit it?

The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (Best) results are in. And early indications are that they say pretty much exactly what all the earlier results said. So, obviously, they are being swiftly discounted: either as flawed, or as irrelevant. To recap: the Best work was a response to concerns over the data used to establish whether…

Ricky Gervais and ‘mong’: if it’s politically correct to think it’s bullying, then I’m politically correct

When does an offensive word lose its meaning? When is it brave and bold to use it in comedy, and when is it mean-spirited and vicious? Where do you draw the line between being polite and being politically correct? Ricky Gervais thinks he knows. For those of you who haven’t been paying attention: Gervais has…

Cameron’s a lizard, Miliband’s a robot, Winston Churchill would kill his own mother. Political insults aren’t new

My colleague Graeme Archer, in a self-confessed bad mood a few days ago, found himself getting wound up by a piece in The Guardian about the BBC cuts, by Charlie Brooker. Brooker, as is his way, spent several paragraphs explaining in considerable detail that David Cameron, the Prime Minister, is in fact a large venomous…

Guest post: Baroness Greenfield, junk neuroscience, and the dangers of video games

Dr Dean Burnett, a neuroscientist at Cardiff University and the author of the Science Digestive blog, has kindly written the following guest post in response to yet another ill-thought-through rant from Baroness Greenfield, the former director of the Royal Institute and prominent critic of video games and the internet. It’s a good thing Dr Burnett…

Buk-buk-bukaaaw: Coalition still chicken over drug laws

The Government: a bunch of chickens. I want to make this absolutely explicit: this Government is chicken. Buk-buk-bukaaaw chicken; yellow-bellied, lily-livered, chicken. Scaredy-cats. But not just this Government; the last one too. Absolute cowards. Fraidy little weaklings. I say this because the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), the official Government advisory board,…

David Cameron’s porn-block pledge: unclear, unnecessary and completely unworkable

Pornography. Dreadful stuff. Never touched it myself, obviously. Terrible. All those naked people doing those unhygienic things. Who wants to see that? Not me. And the plots are all so dreadfully unconvincing. I’m told. By others. So obviously I’m right behind David Cameron’s move to make it completely impossible for any youth ever to see…