Optimism and pessimism both have their merits, but we need a dose of realism

There is a lot to be said for our own experience, but it has obvious limitations

Everything has a cost, whether we are making a political choice or a purchase

People’s life evaluations dip between their twenties and fifties, only to then improve

As the US president is learning, more ponderous forces may reassert themselves

The physicist, unlike so many experts, knew how to communicate difficult ideas

The inclusion rider is a clever nudge to bring more women and minorities to the screen

Yes/No votes give the snake-oil peddlers an edge and hold nobody accountable

But simply letting them go to the wall may not be the panacea it might seem

Our initial impressions are reinforced by others — and can be hijacked for political ends

Investors should work to a long timescale rather than the frenetic fast-twitch world

The status quo is comfortable, especially for the people who get to call the shots

There may be more to life than cash, but should the pursuit of wellbeing guide policy?

Antitrust authorities should not be making life easy for incumbents

It is easy to laugh at past follies exaggerated for comic or sermonising effect

‘Slow email’ software works where your willpower does not

My three-point plan for a more efficient holiday season

Golding’s ‘The Spire’ offers eerie parallels with Britain’s withdrawal from the EU

Market forces are more powerful than any computer

Practitioners seem to be drawn to polysyllabic obfuscation like wasps to jam

The benefits of technologies such as self-driving cars will reveal themselves in time

The path of least resistance can easily direct people to do the wrong thing

It is not easy to see how a social media competitor could tempt us to migrate together

Corporate laboratories once bankrolled basic fundamental research of the highest importance