Let’s say that one day you’re minding your own business, watching a film on Netflix or something similarly mundane, and because you haven’t learned the first lesson of 21st century living — never tell anyone what you think — you make the fatal mistake of writing down your thoughts and posting them online. Before you Read More
1. A couple of years ago, during my postgraduate studies, I was doing some research into the theoretical properties of public housing allocation systems in the UK. British councils tend to use a type of programme known as a ‘choice based letting’ system, and I was interested in how close these would be to the algorithms Read More
I appreciate this isn’t what the three regular readers of this site have come to expect, but I am going to briefly halt the flow of half-thought-out musings to direct your attention to some of my academic work, and one new paper in particular. The study is on the effect people’s beliefs about COVID-19 have Read More
4,400 years ago Urukagina, ruler of the Mesopotamian city-state of Lagash, set down the first known code of law. The full text is lost to history, but cuneiform script on a clay cone tells us that, among other provisions, it made clear that the powerful could not force others to sell them their possessions. From Read More