Rukmani and her family were driving to a temple in Tamil Nadu, India, in May 2018, when they stopped to ask for directions from an elderly local lady. It seemed a safe enough thing to do. The family hadn’t realised that almost every local with access to WhatsApp had...
I'm giving some talks about my imminent book, The Truth Detective. Come along! Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford - 2pm on 1st April at the Oxford Literary Festival Oxford Maths Festival - 3pm on 14th May. Hay Festival - 26th May, 1pm. The Royal Institution - 23 September,...
I’m taking your questions! Do you have any queries about one of the stories we’ve covered? Are you curious about how we make the show? Or is there anything else you think I might be able to help with? I want to hear from you, so send any questions you might have -...
I've finally received a finished copy of my first children's book, The Truth Detective - and thanks to Ollie Mann's fabulous illustrations it's a thing of beauty - aimed at children aged 9-13, it's fun, it's feisty, and it contains statistical heroes and villains from...
I'm not the only one to have hopped from Twitter over to Mastodon in the past few days, I know. But perhaps these three thoughts will be useful to others. First: it's not that hard! Come on in, the water's lovely! I've seen quite a lot of scary-seeming stuff about the...
For those switching over to Mastodon - or experimenting with doing so - I'm at @TimHarford@econtwitter.net. Feel free to give me a friendly wave and a follow! I'm not sure how much I'll be active there, to be honest. Let's see. As always the best way to keep up with...
I loved this book. Fast, funny start, and absolutely fizzing with interesting ideas from art, science, history, commerce, fashion and beyond. Sherwood tells a great story, but one of the things that delighted me was the sheer range of stories that I'd not encountered...
Of course there is 99 Percent Invisible, home of @RomanMars and the beautiful nerds. And @HelenZaltzman 's The Allusionist. And @NoSuchThing As A Fish. But you knew about those three, right? I wanted to recommend a few less well-known podcasts (no shade intended -...
Having somehow let Talking Heads pass me by as a teenager, I've been discovering the joys of David Byrne recently. The Strong Songs podcast had a terrific analysis of the Stop Making Sense concert movie, which is astonishingly good on every level. The BBC's Soul Music...