Into adminestrone

Why do celebrity chefs do it to themselves? They open a restaurant, get a bit of success, then open a further 25 and after falling out with close family members, announce they are closing the chain down, owing creditors millions (who will get nothing) and their staff a livelihood. Hubris, overambition, whatever, they all tend […]

More made-up stuff

Don’t you just love made-up figures. Especially when they’re stuck on the side of a bus. Well, apparently pointless meetings will cost the economy an estimated £45bn this year, according to a new report by online scheduling tool, Doodle. Huckletree’s Gabriela Hersham says: “We’ve all turned up to an external meeting only to realise that […]

Go away and stay away

When Alex Ferguson left Manchester United, he said: “It is unfair  to try and retain the authority you once possessed. You have to let go and let the new man and the new regime do what they think is best.” He didn’t, however, heed his own wise counsel. After David Moyes took over from him in […]

Rubbish male leaders rule

The title of psychologist, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic’s (and winning Scrabble-hand) new book is, ‘Why do so many incompetent men become leaders?’ It is a question, designed to provoke the obvious answer of ‘sexism’. But that can’t be the whole story. There must be some competent men, and presumably a sufficient number of them to lead the […]

Stop eating fish

It is the most important news humanity has ever received: the general collapse of life on Earth. The vast international assessment of the state of nature, as revealed on Monday, tells us that the living planet is in a death spiral. Yet it’s hardly surprising that it appeared on few front pages of British newspapers. […]

Rip it up and start again

Part of me wants to smash it all up. I want to see the British bubble burst: the imperial nostalgia, the groundless belief in the inherent greatness of this nation; the casual dishonesty of those who govern us; the xenophobia; the intolerance; the denial; the complacency. I want those who have caused the coming disaster […]

Shoplifters of the world unite

Sainsbury’s has changed one of its central London branches into the UK’s first till-free grocery store. It lets shoppers pay with their smartphone and walk out of the shop without going through a checkout. Customers use the supermarket’s Smartshop app to scan groceries as they walk round the store, bag them and then pay in […]