The reason that lying is so common is that most people aren't very good at communication in the first place, which means they then have to run to keep up with the misinformation they gave out originally. One reason is that it's so easy to misconstrue what...

People can be perverse, sometimes. For instance, in these days of rising fuel prices it makes sense to buy a smaller car and try and keep your running costs down. Plenty of people are doing that; I was talking to a second-hand car dealer the other day, an...

No, not in the sense that Internet Authors are some wild animal, on the rampage and tearing up the big city. That's a job reserved for rapacious developers, Town Planners and Local Authority officials. No, the modern world is seeing a new phenomenon, and ...

In Britain we have a very distinguished comedy writing partnership called Galton and Simpson. These two were responsible for some of the funniest situation comedies on radio and television from the 1950s to the 1980s. If you ask anyone living in these isl...

There aren't any. Okay, whoah, I know that's not what you wanted to hear. If you're reading this article, then you're looking for someone to tell you that all you have to do is (i), (ii) and (iii) and you'll never have a problem again. Sorry, I don't beli...

Occasionally an idea comes along that is just so good, that, of course, most people fail to recognise it for what it is. The latest example of that is the move in Britain and America to seize the proceeds of a criminal's life. It's simple: you get convict...

There are many ways to communicate, but there are even more ways to fail to communicate. The most important of these I call, 'The Curse of FaceBook'. It's a mysterious thing, and, on the face of it, should never happen. After all, Social Networking sites ...

A recent poll showed that a majority of Americans disapproved of homosexuals. When asked 'Why?' the chief reason given was that they thought that being Gay was somehow 'unnatural'. There's a simple answer to that: the next question should be 'Have you eve...

Lots of people like to think they're sophisticated, or, to put it another way, that they're witty, urbane, experienced and knowing. Some of us would like to think of ourselves as people who've grown up and learned the ways of the world, how to prosper and...

We look down on the Romans. Oh sure, they set up the largest Empire that Europe has ever known, and their city state lasted for over 800 years, which is about four times the length of time that the United States of America has been in existence. But, on t...

In England, GM foods will always be associated with lies and deception. That's for a very good reason, because everything we have been told here about GM over the years is provably untrue. Take one example: we were told that GM crops were necessary for th...

We live in an unshockable society. That's what some people would like to believe. If you're a liberal, you talk about all the progress we've made and how far we've come since the bad old days of the 1950s. If you're a conservative, you talk about the lice...

The reality of becoming famous is not something most people would enjoy. When I was younger, I shared a flat in the city of Bristol and above us, on the next floor, were the pop band known as 'Stackridge'. They were one of a new wave of creative groups in...

Every Traditional Publisher should read the book by Nicholas Taleb called 'The Black Swan'. Not least because it's now a runaway best-seller and, in the fine tradition of that category, it was ignored by most publishers who were asked to publish it. If pe...

I saw a car crash today. I was following a car along an urban motorway, that part of the A57 that is called The Mancunian Way, in Manchester. I could see him flip his brake lights a few times, obviously undecided about which exit to take. There was an off...