Tom Chivers

The Red Arrows have had a tragic year. (Photo: PA)

A Red Arrows pilot has been killed in an accident at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, the second fatal incident in just three months: in August, Flight Lieutenant Jon Egging died following a display at the Bournemouth Air Festival. It is, of course, a terrible tragedy, and the Military Aviation Enquiry is rightly carrying out an independent inquiry into its causes. All our thoughts go out to the families of both young men.

The Red Arrows are having a horrible year. The Ministry of Defence's inquiry into the earlier accident is still going on. But whatever the results, I sincerely hope that we will not see the end… Read More

"Remind me - which one am I again?"

What's going on with people's inability to remember Ed Miliband's name? My colleague Daniel Knowles had an excellent spot this morning when he saw that The Independent, who had splashed on their exclusive interview with the Labour leader, proceeded to call him "David" in their editorial. It's not the first time, as Dan points out – Harriet Harman, his own deputy party leader, and John Humphrys have both made a similar slip, albeit in speech rather than print (which presumably was read by at least five people before publication).

Why is it that some people are more memorable than others? It's a serious question, with wider implications than a slip-up in a column. What is it in human memory that focuses attention on one person… Read More

I went to see Steven Pinker and Matt Ridley last night at Intelligence Squared, talking about Pinker’s new book The Better Angels of our Nature in which he shows, powerfully, that we are now living in the safest time to be alive in the history of humanity. It’s a fascinating read and was a fascinating…

Sally Morgan: definitely, 100 per cent able to talk to dead people

You know who I don't like? Spiritualists. Mediums, that lot. The ones who tell grieving mothers that they're talking to their dead son: "Yes, I'm getting him now, he says he misses you but he's happy." Because, let us be honest, we can be pretty sure that they're not speaking to anyone's dead son, or granny, or pet dog. The kindest spin you can put on it is that they're confused. Another possibility is that they're cynically taking advantage of other people's pain and vulnerability. There are several words for people like that, none of which is permitted by the Telegraph's style guide.

Or at least that's my take on it. I'm pleased to… Read More

Prince Charles: a ticking constitutional time-bomb

It's been a funny few days for the Royal family. Last week, it was declared that this inherently unequal organisation is to be made subject to an "equality act". And today, The Guardian reports that Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, has been given a "secret veto" on 12 separate pieces of legislation.

The legal matters involved are a bit baffling, but in essence, it goes like this: any bill in Parliament that affects the sitting monarch's interests must be given to the Queen for consent. The Duchy of Cornwall, which is given to the sovereign's eldest son, reverts to the property of the Crown if the heir dies without leaving children. Therefore, the Queen has an interest in anything which affect… Read More

You'll no doubt be pleased to know that this is a very short blog post. All I need to say is: watch this video on full screen, and marvel.

Don't make me choose, Mr Amazon. Please, don't make me choose

This is a sort of open letter to Amazon. And Sony. And WH Smith, and Apple, and anybody else who makes e-readers, tablets and other electronic devices for reading books on. I have a suggestion.

I own an e-reader. Specifically, an Amazon Kindle. And I love it. I love being able to buy a book within a minute of thinking I should: now, instead of wandering past a Waterstone's six weeks later and thinking "What was it I meant to pick up?", I click a few buttons (or tap a few times at my phone) and I own it. I love taking something the size of a paperback on holiday which can hold… Read More

Thomas Malthus predicted that the Earth would be unable to support the growing population

From Wednesday's paper: On Monday, the world’s population will pass a new milestone. Previous dire predictions of mass starvation as human numbers have exploded have not come to pass, but can we be confident that will always be the case? Tom Chivers considers where earlier projections erred and what the future holds.

In 1798, an English clergyman, the Rev Thomas Malthus, predicted that one day the population of the world would outstrip the globe’s ability to feed it. He based this on a simple and, on the face of it, unarguable premise: population grows exponentially – increasing by a set percentage per year – while food production grows arithmetically, by a set… Read More

Is internet pornography damaging our children? (Photo: Getty)

I wrote a week or so ago about the "opt-in" system for online pornography which David Cameron has half-proposed, saying that not only was it confused and unworkable, it was also unnecessary. I quoted a few studies and so on, and concluded that it seemed unlikely that there is a serious problem of "sexualisation" of children or that pornography is hurting our kids. Understandably, this was a controversial point. I got in a lengthy discussion on Twitter with Londonistar, aka Alison, who feels I was underplaying the damage porn causes.

I agreed that, if she wrote a response, I'd cross-post it here. I'll quote some extracts, and you can read the rest at her blog – please… Read More

The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (Best) results are in. And early indications are that they say pretty much exactly what all the earlier results said. So, obviously, they are being swiftly discounted: either as flawed, or as irrelevant.

To recap: the Best work was a response to concerns over the data used to establish whether and how much the world is warming. It is led by Richard Muller, an astrophysics professor at Berkeley, who was previously known for being somewhat sceptical about the anthropogenic climate change hypotheses. It was also partly funded by prominent sceptics,  including the Koch brothers. The standard figures, provided by Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) along with the Hadley Climate Research Unit (HadCRU) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), had been widely criticised, for two reasons, as I wrote back in April:
One, pointed out by the… Read More