The Gravity Well Nobody Puts in the Travel Guide
Paris doesn't just make Paris expensive. It makes everything around it expensive, in a rough circle spreading outward, thinning as…
Posts by Freddie Russell
The Colour That Took Thousands of Years to Exist
Look up on a clear day and the sky is an obvious, insistent blue. It is so ordinary that you…
The Floating Limited Company That Shot People Who Disagreed With Minutes
Before anyone had heard of shareholder agreements, profit-sharing schemes, or a vote of no confidence, a collection of sunburned criminals…
The Colour That Bankrupt Painters and Blessed the Virgin
For centuries, if you wanted to paint the sky, the sea, or the robes of the Madonna, you had a…
The Gap That Runs Faster Than You Do
Picture two horses leaving the starting gate at the same time. One is your car's value, the other is the…
The Paint That Cost More Than the Portrait
There is a fresco in a church in Germany from the thirteenth century. The Virgin Mary's robes are the most…
The Manager You Didn’t Know You Had
Somewhere between swallowing a forkful of pasta and fishing around for a second helping, a negotiation begins. Not one you…
The Pound in Your Pocket Is Always Melting
Pull a tenner out of your wallet and have a good look at it. Same polymer. Same king's face. Same…
The Colour You’re Wearing Would Have Got You Arrested
Somewhere in your wardrobe right now there is almost certainly something purple. A jumper, a scarf, half a pair of…
The House That Owns You Back
Picture your house for a moment. Solid. Brick and mortar, tiles on the roof, a front door you have a…