In which I learn from a rather dubious-seeming blood test that my 'biological age' is 62, which doesn't fit with my baby face but perhaps explains my cultural interests and general lack of enthusiasm for the modern world

I did one of those biological age tests, and learnt I'm three decades older than I thought.

Luckily the shock was somewhat cushioned by learning James Marriott is close to death too.

thetimes.co.uk/article/d8f9dd…

I hated my smartphone and how much time I spent on it so I got rid of it. It's actually been brilliant and not nearly as difficult or inconvenient as I thought. (My Nokia is much smaller than the one in the embarassing photoshoot).

thetimes.co.uk/article/can-i-…

I wrote this about the 'loneliness epidemic' and the absurd modern belief that happiness and fulfilment are found in ourselves not in other people

thetimes.co.uk/article/self-o…

I wrote this about the 'loneliness epidemic' and the absurd modern belief that happiness and fulfilment are found in ourselves not in other people

thetimes.co.uk/article/self-o…

Fascinating. The 'you don't want to end up on the wrong side of history' argument as seen in the sixteenth century.

This is wonderful. I don't think there's any historian I enjoy reading more than Keith Thomas. Like looking at the past through the eyes of an anthropologist. Makes you think that the main (or maybe only) lesson of history is how strange human beings are.

I wrote this in praise of Ryanair and the civilising effects of cheap short haul air travel which are too often overlooked

thetimes.co.uk/article/ryanai…

This is superb on the too easily overlooked vibrancy of modern culture. A useful corrective to knee jerk cultural pessimism (which I am very guilty of)

ian-leslie.com/p/the-state-of…

On Australian radio discussing some of the baleful consequences of modern individualism

abc.net.au/listen/program…

I reviewed a brilliant new book about Freud, Mahler, Klimt, Egon Schiele and other inhabitants of Vienna in the early twentieth century. It was a time of political and psychological unease which I think has some interesting parallels with now

thetimes.co.uk/article/mortal…

I wrote this, on the curse of celebrity novelists, celebrity podcasters and the 'influencer-isation of everything'.

thetimes.co.uk/article/who-ne…

'Whats most modern about Freud is his worst qualities: his cult of personality shameless pseudoscience. In anxious unhappy times people hunger for strange ideas & bogus truths framed in educated jargon and shrouded in timeless mystery' James Marriott

thetimes.co.uk/article/mortal…

I reviewed a brilliant new book about Freud, Mahler, Klimt, Egon Schiele and other inhabitants of Vienna in the early twentieth century. It was a time of political and psychological unease which I think has some interesting parallels with now

thetimes.co.uk/article/mortal…

Our culture is unwell

These days I have to save up my reading for a Saturday morning but catching up on James Marriott is always the highlight. As close to Clive James as it’s possible to be and that is probably the best compliment that I could pay anyone. 

thetimes.co.uk/article/f3be4a…

I wrote this, on the curse of celebrity novelists, celebrity podcasters and the 'influencer-isation of everything'.

thetimes.co.uk/article/who-ne…

I wrote this about the north of England's loss of its once extraordinary cultural soft power

thetimes.co.uk/article/why-th…