I approach this second lockdown in higher spirits than the first. Higher, not stronger spirits. Yes, the single malt whisky stocks have been replenished, but so far I have felt no need to resort to the pharmaceutical-grade, 96% ABV Polish hooch that proved so popular during the first lockdown.[1] I could easily spend the rest of this column ranting about the endless missed opportunities that would have spared us a second wave of restrictions. Much as I love a good

At 18:30 on Saturday 18 May 2019 the last scheduled High-Speed Train (HST) — familiar to those who remember the early marketing material as the InterCity 125 — left London Paddington for Exeter. It was the end of an era. This diesel locomotive, designed and built on a meagre budget by British Rail through the early 1970s, was never meant to last. It was intended as a stopgap measure before electrification could be rolled out across the UK’s long-distance rail

More than you might imagine according to a 2006 study entitled ‘Sabotage in Tournaments: Making the Beautiful Game a Bit Less Beautiful’. The authors analyse football games in the Spanish La Liga to investigate the incentives for players to engage in brazen sabotage activities similar to those portrayed in the hit TV series The Office. Sabotage activities are as old as humankind: just ask Cain and Abel, Romulus and Remus, Julius Caesar or the Miliband brothers. I’m sure that most