The mystery of the multiplying ‘multiple’
What is it with ‘multiple’ these days? I can scarcely open my eyes without being assaulted by this ugly and unnecessary coinage: (more…)...
Smoke signals
Centrica, which owns British Gas, reports “high levels of competitive intensity” in a trading statement published today. Say what? (more…)...
“Adult film star”? Grow up!
Why does the #BBC keep describing Stormy Daniels coyly as an “adult film star”? (more…)...
Mind your language – like Malcolm’s mates
As the fictitious government spin doctor in The Thick of It, Malcolm Tucker was gloriously foul-mouthed. (more…)...
Carrott’s is innocent
I always thought the term grocer's apostrophe a little unfair. (more…)...
Never utilise utilise
What is it with business writing and "utilise"?
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How not to start a list
I saw this recently in a report published by UKERC on local authorities' involvement in clean energy projects. It's classic academic sentence, by which I mean back-to-front.
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Verb nounification strikes again
Turning verbs into nouns into verbs and vice versa has been going on since cavemen learned to grunt. (more…)...
The Oracle of Oil, book review
This article was first published in New Scientist, 1 June 2016.
THIS is a curious time to publish a biography of M. King Hubbert. The story of how this brilliant but irascible Shell geologist accurately forecast in 1956 that US oil production would peak and go into terminal decline by 1970 is by now well worn. (more…)...
Reasons to be fearful
This article was first published in New Scientist, 27 July 2013.
DOOM-MONGERS of the climate variety might want to look away now – we apparently have more time to save the planet. A recent study published in Nature Geoscience suggests it will warm more slowly than feared, perhaps buying an extra decade for action. (more…)...