Originally published October 2020. For those about to emerge from university and enter the world of property, a few words of advice. As we enter 2020, I find myself engrossed in the new Star Trek series, ‘Picard’. Its central theme, set against a background of science fiction and interstellar space travel, is the perennial one […]
Tasting notes on the harvest. I scrawl the following words towards the end of May, having recently returned from a week in Bordeaux… Now, there’s a phrase that hasn’t appeared in print for a while – over three years, to be exact. And after all that has happened since March 2020, it really was good […]
There’s a fun game to be played with The New York Times’ coverage of British crime. It’s very simple and you can play along at home: how many paragraphs will it take the paper to tell you what the sympathetic victim of the legal system actually did? Take this recent piece on modern slavery. The article lists the […]
Not if it can generate income… Originally published July 2022. Mostly confined to cyberpunk and tech circles prior to 2021, the metaverse has since experienced breakout attention and entered the common vernacular. Not all of this has been welcomed. For every metaverse evangelist who emerges from the woodwork, so too does an equal and opposite […]
How algorithm managers are taking over the office. The 1999 cult classic film Office Space depicts Peter’s dreary life as a cubicle-dwelling software engineer. Every Friday, Peter tries to avoid his boss and the dreaded words: “I’m going to need you to go ahead and come in tomorrow.” This scene is still popular on the internet […]
…and how to stop them stealing your chips. On a summer’s day at the beach, the sound of seagulls is part of the ambience. But what about when they’re in the middle of a city, or when they’ve just taken your lunch? Not a lot of people like seagulls. They’re loud, messy and quite partial to […]
Property as safe haven in downturn. As I reach the officially designated twilight years of my career, the recent burst of inflation in the UK and the upward shift in bond yields brought memories of my early days, emerging into the world of work with inflation at 15%, the bank base rate well above 10% […]
A look at the mathematician and his tables. In over 35 years of public speaking, I have made audiences grimace, laugh and, I hope, develop their understanding of the world of property. Yet, this summer, I mentioned an antiquarian book that I had just acquired and the audience reaction can only be said to be […]
How they work and the implications. Part 1: the economics Recently, a colleague posted an opinion on social media that he would stick with his gas-powered Mustang, stating emphatically that the economics of EVs do not yet pan out. He may be right under the right set of circumstances, but in most locations, EVs are […]
Each year, billions of pounds and euros and dollars are spent by towns and cities trying to entice big businesses to establish headquarters or factories or warehouses within their boundaries. It is hardly surprising. The benefits to the selected community are obvious: jobs, tax receipts, enhanced infrastructure, consumer spending, economic uplift, status, the possibility of […]
