Here’s an insight into my Sunday. Right now, I’m shelling broad beans. (Actually, I’m clearly procrastinating because shelling broad beans is boring.) These will become part of a broad bean pilau which I’ll serve with spiced grilled courgettes. It’s vegetarian; not because we are but because cooking satisfying vegetarian meals is far more of a challenge, and therefore far more interesting, than serving a slab of...

Radio 4 is playing next to me. I’m that damn rock n’ roll. And they’re talking about a team of scientists who are trying to evolve music from noise. (Actually, now they’re talking about sustainable living and whether or not we should care about resources running out, because the Today program does have some similarities to a child with ADD.) Robert MacCallum started with a series of noise loops, and asked people to pick...

Just over a week ago I signed up to Drayton Bird’s e-mail list. One thing I love about Drayton Bird’s e-mails is that they’re always good reading, even when the whole thing is a subtle pitch. (And the whole thing is a subtle pitch for various products, either Drayton’s own or ones he’s an affiliate for. I’m almost certainly buying a couple before the series is done, too…) I’ve read a load of...

Today, a story post, because my latest one is being a pain. I like stories with elements of the fantastic, but where the fantastic is just part of how the world works. Tamed fantastic. The kind of fantastic where a man can be followed everywhere he goes by a cloud of yellow butterflies, and no-one remarks on it. It’s just his thing. I think this is because I like the stories I read (and write) to have something to say…...

Today’s bit of early-morning reading was this from Technology Review, provided by the ever-reliable Tim Harford’s Twitter stream. It’s one of those articles written by someone who clearly doesn’t know that much about their subject… Advertising hasn’t been a black art since Claude Hopkins published Scientific Advertising in the 30s. If you think it is, you’re doing it wrong. That said, this...