Growing up I used to watch the film Richie Rich a lot. It had Macaulay Culkin as the young heir to an absurdly rich family under threat from a scheming family ‘friend’. It had lasers and butlers and obscene displays of wealth. Think of it as a sort of Home Alone for the 1%. Julian …
Author archives: iangoggin
WILTW 3
What Ian Learned This Week: An occasional attempt to capture bits and bobs I’ve learned in the past week or so. Most definitely not done every week, but basically whenever I feel like it. Hill figures Reading Hidden Histories, and learning more about features of the British countryside I’m particularly struck by the chapter on …
WILTW 2
What Ian Learned This Week: An occasional attempt to capture bits and bobs I’ve learned in the past week or so. Most definitely not done every week, but basically whenever I feel like it. Gizzard juggling Reading a book about robins and somehow ended up down a rabbit hole of reading about gizzards. Gizzards are …
What I. learned this week 1
A probably weekly hodgepodge of interesting – to me anyway – titbits that I learned this week. Writing this mainly for myself and as an exercise to keep me writing more often. As you can tell from this first one I have a fairly high tolerance for tedious reading and facts. London to Dublin This …
Reviewing Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
I have to admit that reading about the history of cod probably isn’t going to make it high on your list of priorities for a quiet night in. I admit I was skeptical myself, but Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, takes an interesting idea an. The book tracks the history and …
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Inca Trail: High altitude nosebleeds
(Bit of a long read. Wanted to record this for myself, and unsure if long-form works for others. Lots to observe during the trail, so I’ve crammed a lot in from my Day 1 notes. Because of a mix of writing from notes and at the time this is written from the future and later …
Peru day 2: cuteness overload
Day 2 in Peru started slowly. I spent the early parts of the day eating a lot and walking, trying out a bit of running. I ran 50m and felt like I was about to have a heart attack. Never again. I’ll stick to walking. It occurred to me as I wandered that the mountains …
Peru day 1: unexpected golden retrievers
I’ve been in Peru for just over 24 hours, and it has been full of firsts and personal milestones. I’ve never been so fast south, I’ve never been to Peru (or anywhere in South America), and I’ve never been at the ground at high altitude. Getting here took…. a while. 17 hours worth of whiles. …
The Greferendum has left me certain of just one thing
I can’t say I have a strong opinion on whether Greece should have voted Yes or No in the referendum. It seems like both outcomes lead to uncertainty, and both have major downsides. One thing I can say for certain though: we shouldn’t be celebrating this as a serious victory for democracy. Greeks teaching us …
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Immigration: unequivocally good?
Michael Clemens from the Centre for Global Development on immigration [emphasis mine]: The research we have shows that immigration has had a positive effect on economic growth in Europe overall. This remains true in economists’ most sophisticated forecasts for the future. Christian Lutz and Ingo Wolter forecast a positive effect of immigration on German economic growth. Katerina …