Domestic Serfdom — We’re driving to Italy tomorrow from the UK. There are so many little things to do. I wonder what I’ve forgotten. …

Independence from Stereotyping Day. Please. — I’m a big fan of Financial Times columnist Gillian Tett. I read her all the time. So imagine my irritation when a favorite British writer takes a gratuitous swipe at Americans. In a story about cell phones and the confusing near-coup in Russia, she writes: “If a revolution can be…

Community Spirit — I walk out my front door and run into my friend Tina. She’s rushing off for the first day of a new job: Wimbledon Driver. Like other people I know, Tina will be carting around the world’s greatest tennis players for the tournament, which starts on July 3. Locals are…

Distracted Parenting — A friend’s son is bringing home a girlfriend. Like any good parent, the dad (an early Internet pioneer), consults ChatGPT for advice. “My 20-year-old son is bringing home his girlfriend to meet us for the first time,” he tells the chatbot, before adding a joke. …

AI and reporting — An old adage went that newsrooms were quiet because reporters were out interviewing people. Then they were quiet because reporters, instead of interviewing people, were silently scanning the Internet for news. With ChatGPT, the chatbot developed by OpenAI, newsrooms will be quiet because there won’t be any reporters. Media companies…

Sentimental car journey — I washed the car and put in premium gas before driving 80 miles to sell her for £250. Note the “her”. Our car isn’t an “it”. Not to us. We’ve had her for 25 years. Her name is Gretel. Our car still looks great (see photo), has under 93,000 miles…

The key to youth — The other day my neighbour asked my age. For a moment I couldn’t remember. I genuinely didn’t know. I had to do the math. It’s probably because after 50 I stopped counting. 50 was bad enough. On that birthday I was at a school quiz night with a table of…

Setting free the mice — This morning I freed a mouse caught in a friendly trap under the kitchen sink. I fed he/she a couple pellets of dog food — they’re crazy about Harringtons all natural lamb and rice — and put him by a tree in the woods near our home. “Live free and…

Heart Vows — Men who never marry are more than twice as likely to die from heart failure than married men, according to new research. The study based on data of 6,800 American adults (ages 45–84 of various ethnicities) compared the survival rates of those diagnosed with heart failure, looking at gender and…