Artificial Intelligence: will it be a blessing or curse?

FOR DECADES, writers and filmmakers have imagined a world in which computers and robots have advanced to a stage where they are, at least in some respects, more capable than their creators. Science fiction allows ...

How certainty can breed intolerance

CERTAINTY IS USUALLY thought of as a virtue, and we often regard those who lack firm views on an issue as indecisive or weak. In fact, it can be a mixed blessing, with a refusal to ...

Stop the meddling, cut VAT and provide the confidence to grow

FEW POLITICIANS understand the undercurrents of fiscal policy. They react largely to a public clamour about “tax and spend” which interprets fiscal policy choices as levers to produce instantaneous results.

As is ...

Hype and reality

IT'S NOT OFTEN that I get an opportunity to quote Private Eye, but here goes. In a column by ‘Old Sparky’ (issue 1462), under the headline ‘Real food for thought’ is a critique of the ...

Changing energy sources is inevitable but technology can make it attractive

ANYONE WHO EXPERIENCED the oil crises of the ‘70s and ‘80s will remember Sheikh Yamani, Saudi oil minister and leader of the then dominant OPEC cartel in the days when oil was cheap and America ...

Scottish Government Brexit paper reveals its economic prejudices

THE OTHER DAY, the Today programme had a go at asking “why there were so few right-wing comedians”.  I say “had a go” because it was surreal.  A supposedly right-wing comedian was brought in to ...

No longer fantastic plastic?

IN TODAY’S WORLD of blacks and whites, plastic waste is becoming a major target both of environmentalists and policymakers, and the benefits are being forgotten. This is an unfortunate trend, but typical of the highly ...

Improving quality of life should be our guiding policy principle

THE PRIORITY of government climate policy is simply emissions reduction; it should instead be improving the quality of human life.

There is enormous momentum  behind  present climate policy because of the political ...

How and why our environmental priorities are shifting

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS evolved after the development of arable farming about 10,000 years ago. This enabled settled communities to grow and some people to specialise in skills other than hunting and foraging. Life was still unbelievably ...

The perils of pessimism – and optimism

BEING of a naturally optimistic disposition, I’ve often thought that the environmentalist movement has a deep streak of pessimism running through it. At the extreme, the world view is one of our species – and ...

Productivity? Is there something wrong with the math?

IT IS FASHIONABLE to suggest UK productivity is weak. At the Budget the OBR cut GDP forecasts materially, largely blaming a cut in forecast productivity growth as the culprit. The OECD too has jumped onto ...

Putting 2017 in perspective

ANOTHER YEAR has nearly finished. For the EU, the combined tensions of Brexit, Catalonian nationalism and a much-weakened Chancellor Merkel seem to be doing little to disrupt normal life. On the other hand, the underlying ...