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  • Wednesday, 13 January, 2021
    Tim Harford
    Florence Nightingale: the pandemic hero we need

    Most famous as a nurse, her innovative use of data helped also prevent many deaths from infectious diseases

  • Friday, 8 January, 2021
    Tim Harford
    Is ‘first dose first’ the right vaccination strategy?

    Vaccine resistance and public trust are just a couple of the issues with this new approach

  • Thursday, 31 December, 2020
    Tim Harford
    What can we learn from the great WFH experiment?

    Working from home is more productive than we had guessed but face-to-face contact will still make a difference

  • Tuesday, 22 December, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Do bad gifts get a pass this Christmas?

    The arguments against poor presents are powerful. But has the pandemic changed all that?

  • Friday, 18 December, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Things (I think) I was wrong about this year

    ‘Was I wrong about lockdowns? I’m still sitting on the fence. I am too indecisive even to be wrong’

  • Friday, 4 December, 2020
    Tim Harford
    What puzzles and poker teach us about misinformation

    We cannot escape our emotions — but we can take them into account

  • Friday, 27 November, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Why we should celebrate rather than criticise Christmas newsletters

    In these polarised times, one truth unites the British commentariat: Christmas letters are ghastly

  • Friday, 20 November, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Why Covid-19 vaccines face a new obstacle course

    From a shortage of dry ice to Brexit traffic jams, hurdles still threaten our ability to inoculate the world

  • Friday, 13 November, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Why are we all so obsessed with saving Christmas?

    Politicians are willing to put Covid progress at risk for the symbolic value of December 25

  • Promoted Content
  • Saturday, 7 November, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Working from home: when the cracks start to show

    Hazards range from missed meetings to yawning chasms of understanding about fundamental goals

  • Friday, 30 October, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Why tech isn’t always the answer — the perils of bionic duckweed

    Always waiting for the next breakthrough can keep us from taking action now

  • Friday, 23 October, 2020
    Tim Harford
    The power of negative thinking

    We should all spend more time considering the prospect of failure and what we might do about it

  • Monday, 12 October, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Winning bid: how auction theory took the Nobel Prize

    Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson’s work transformed how countries allocate resources in the public interest

  • Friday, 9 October, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Lockdown sceptics v zero-Covid: who’s got it right?

    Unsurprisingly, neither side has all the answers. For those, we should look to Germany

  • Friday, 2 October, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Is 47.2 our unhappiest age?

    Reader, I just turned 47. Peak misery awaits me at the end of November

  • Friday, 25 September, 2020
    Tim Harford
    What exactly is a ‘lockdown’?

    The lack of clarity risks making a bad situation worse

  • Friday, 18 September, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Can you put a number on it? How to understand the world

    ‘If we are willing to go with our brains rather than our guts, any of us can think clearly about things’

  • Friday, 4 September, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Live events are back, but new rules make for thin performances

    Lockdowns called for ingenuity to meet the challenge of staging in a post-Covid world

  • Friday, 24 July, 2020
    Tim Harford
    We fall in love with the new but not everything old is obsolete

    Cutting edge technology can blind us to the enduring value of workhorses like the 747

  • Friday, 26 June, 2020
    Tim Harford
    The risk of harm and the greater good

    Randomised trials can be a danger but even when innocuous they can make us uneasy. Why?

  • Friday, 19 June, 2020
    Tim Harford
    What countries can — and can’t — learn from each other

    The lack of co-ordination on the response to Covid-19 has cost lives

  • Friday, 12 June, 2020
    Tim Harford
    The cost of keeping schools closed will be dreadful

    Reversing lockdown is perilous, but we cannot sacrifice our children’s education indefinitely

  • Friday, 5 June, 2020
    Tim Harford
    The economy won’t snap back after Covid-19

    Activities that were already marginal are likely to struggle to return

  • Friday, 29 May, 2020
    Tim Harford
    The case for libertarian lockdowns — ‘don’t be a dickhead’

    Laws cannot cover every situation but common sense is not always enough

  • Friday, 22 May, 2020
    Tim Harford
    Reopening the economy will divide societies

    The virus picks us off un­evenly, and an effective response must recognise that

Previous You are on page 1 Next

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