How Old Should You Be Before Work Stops Owning You?
In 1870, a ten-year-old in a Lancashire cotton mill was not a child who happened to have a job. He…
Posts by Freddie Russell
The Same Car, Three Different Deals
Imagine two people buy the identical car on the same day. Same make, same model, same software humming away behind…
The Colour You Chose Was Chosen For You First
Cast your mind back a couple of years and think about how many things turned terracotta at once. Your sister's…
The Outfit That Could Get You Arrested
Imagine being stopped in the street, not for theft, not for causing a scene, but because your jacket was the…
The Most Hardworking Thing in Your House Has Never Received a Single Compliment
Nobody walks into a freshly painted room and says, "Oh, look at those skirting boards." They say the colour is…
When the Sun Gave Economics Its Favourite Word
About 13.8 billion years ago, something very small became something incomprehensibly large in a fraction of a second. Physicists call…
The Rumour That Makes a Painting Worth Twice as Much
Forget brushwork. Forget whether you like it. The question that actually decides what a piece of art is worth on…
The Price of Waiting
Somewhere around the thirteenth century, a theologian sat down and tried to work out whether charging interest on a loan…
The Busiest Thing in Your Car Has No Idea You’re Relaxed
There's a small irony in the name "automatic". It implies ease, passivity, something that just sort of… happens. And from…
The Recipe You Can Read a Thousand Times and Still Not Know
Imagine you're handed a recipe for a Nigerian-Mexican fusion dish – jollof rice spiked with chipotle, say, or a suya-spiced…