Kaliane Bradley: The Ministry of Time The British government has acquired a device to transport people from past centuries to the present day. The people concerned are recorded as missing or dead, so the course of history should not be changed. At this end, Ministry employees have to give house room for the ‘immigrants’. Our protagonist, a young twenty-first century woman of mixed British-Cambodian parentage, is put in charge of an officer from the doomed Franklin Expedition to the North-...| The End Of The Pier Show
This past week I attended what struck me as an extraordinary event. Held at the Science Museum in London, it brought together multiple ministers and Secretaries of State plus many senior representatives of the Voluntary Sector/Civil Society organisations, plus some … Continue reading →Continue reading →| Occam's Typewriter
Back in the late Nineties, I was interning at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. During the working week, I threw myself into the lab with all the evangelical fervour of a pilgrim who had finally reached her … Continue reading →Continue reading →| Occam's Typewriter
The Government’s recently published Modern Industrial Strategy has a lot to say about skills. For instance, it commits to ‘enhance skills and increase access to talent by reforming the skills and employment support system to create a strong pipeline into … Continue reading →Continue reading →| Occam's Typewriter
Catherine Chidgey: The Book Of Guilt Britain in the 1970s, full of ’70s nostalgia, but in an altered universe in which Hitler was assassinated in 1943, and the Second World War ended in a treaty in which the UK shared … Continue reading →Continue reading →| Occam's Typewriter
Yearly Archives: 2025 | occamstypewriter.org
I’m not convinced by the idea of AI throwing everyone out of jobs or taking over the world, but I thought I should read up some thoughtful writing on the subject, so I turned to Neil Lawrence’s 2024 book (recently … Continue reading →Continue reading →| Occam's Typewriter
Talking about social media Almost a year ago I joined the u3a – a group for people with time on their hands. Members are mostly, but not exclusively, retired people. I have joined several groups in my local u3a branch, … Continue reading →Continue reading →| Occam's Typewriter
Four months after my open letter calling on the Royal Society to take action over Elon Musk FRS’s breaches of their code of conduct had attracted thousands of signatures from the scientific community, but only a very muted response from that most learned organisation, I was beginning to think I should let the matter go. After all, Musk is no longer part of the Trump administration, his relationship with the president having exploded in spectacularly bitter fashion a couple of weeks ago.| Reciprocal Space
Yearly Archives: 2025 | occamstypewriter.org
I asked Chat GPT: Please recast the argument between Donald Trump and Elon Musk as a scene from a play by William Shakespeare. It came up … er … ‘Trumps’ A Scene from The Tempest of Tech and Throne Act … Continue reading →Continue reading →| Occam's Typewriter
Once again I apologise for being late. I make no excuse for this, partly because there are too many reasons to mention. Oh all right, here’s one — my desire to participate in the online world is waning. The same empty vessels with the same prejudices still resonate as loudly as they ever did. I am very tempted to leave them to it and do something more useful instead. Partly for this reason I haven’t added the usual pictures and links, and I am wondering whether I shall continue mu...| The End Of The Pier Show
1 Prof. Stephen Royle University of Warwick| Reciprocal Space