The Spice That Got People Executed for Fraud
Somewhere in Spain or Iran or Kashmir right now, a person is crouching in a crocus field at dawn, before…
Posts by Freddie Russell
The School Fee That Has Nothing To Do With School
Walk past a school like Eton or Harrow and you might wonder what, exactly, you are paying for. Teachers, buildings,…
The Skirt That Knows When the Economy Is About to Tank
In 1926, a University of Pennsylvania economist called George Taylor looked up from his numbers and noticed something odd. When…
The Coin That Kept Lying
Pick up a fifty-pence piece. Feel the weight of it. Now imagine spending your whole life suspicious of that weight…
The Number on the Windscreen Is Not the Price
Walk onto any used car forecourt and the figure in the corner of that windscreen is presented like a fact.…
The Day Your Car Decided to Start Sending Letters
Somewhere in a data centre you'll never visit, your car is having a conversation. It started the moment you drove…
The Ghost in the Classroom
Walk into almost any secondary school in Britain and you will notice something odd: thirty children all facing the same…
Your Walls Have Always Had Opinions About You
Before you'd said a word, before anyone clocked your shoes or your accent or what car was on the drive,…
The Basket That Decides Whether Your Life Is Getting More Expensive
Somewhere in the bowels of the Office for National Statistics, there is a shopping basket. It doesn't exist physically –…
The Price Your House Has Never Actually Earned
Somewhere in the valuation of your home is a number that has absolutely nothing to do with your home. Not…