March tale: what would you do, in the cold, cold Winter?

March tale: what would you do, in the cold, cold Winter?

  Folk tales often grow from periods of great hardship. The tale of Hansel and Gretel, though first written down much later, is thought to stem from the onset of the medieval cold period, known as the Little Ice Age and the Great Famine in Europe of the early...
Crapitalism: & the alternatives to ‘big’ outsourcing

Crapitalism: & the alternatives to ‘big’ outsourcing

Lindsay Mackie and Andrew Simms ask why we’re not using proven alternatives to ‘big’ outsourcing News last week that Capita was in difficulties led to a near 50 percent drop in its share price as anxiety about its stability surged following the...
February’s tale: back with the fairies

February’s tale: back with the fairies

‘Back with the fairies’, by David Boyle, charts the strange revival of beliefs in fairies, asks in an age of irrational politics what might be driving the phenomenon, and what it might mean about seeking both escape and connections in the modern world.  His...
The climate breakdown behind the ice and snow

The climate breakdown behind the ice and snow

Behind the freezing weather that makes some wish for a warmer world, writes Bill McGuire, there is a climate in upheaval… As Britain faces its own bleak midwinter, the brutal cold snap that recently gripped much of North America has once again brought the...