From World War II to the financial crisis, our institutional memory is fading fast
The young contestants on Lord Sugar’s reality TV show The Apprentice sparked outrage last week. They appeared to have virtually no knowledge about the Second World War. The online clips of the sequence capture to perfection their expressions of bovine outrage at even being expected to know such an esoteric thing as how long the […]
If there is something fishy about influencers, why do we take the bait?
Social media influencer, Yovana Mendoza, provided an amusing diversion from Brexit last week. The 20-something vlogger built a very lucrative personal brand around veganism. She amassed over 3m followers on YouTube and Instagram by advocating a raw vegan diet and 25-day water fasts. All seemed to be going well until a competitor observed and filmed […]
Move over Facebook and Apple, the next generation of customers has other ideas
A visit to Rochdale Sixth Form College was a cheering experience last week. This year, 55 per cent of A-levels were at grades A* to B. True, Eton and Winchester do better. But this track record shows that even poor boroughs – and Rochdale is one of the poorest – have the capacity to deliver […]
Facebook, facts, and alternative fictions: How to predict the narrative of the future
Last Thursday, Facebook suffered the biggest one-day loss in the history of Wall Street. The company’s shares dropped nearly 19 per cent. Rather incredibly, Facebook reported an increase in revenue of no less than 42 per cent over the same quarter last year, and a rise in profits of 31 per cent. But the narrative […]
‘Expertise’ has become a tool of the liberal establishment to drown out opposing views
The row over the Conservative-supporting journalist Toby Young’s appointment to the universities watchdog has been intense. Despite the relative obscurity of this public position, the left wing Twitterati have been besides themselves with rage. The affair has culminated in his resignation, over some tweets he posted. They are certainly a bit near the knuckle, to […]
Companies that bow to the social media mob are operating in the wrong century
Pizza Hut is the latest addition to the list of companies grovelling to criticism on social media. The restaurant chain tweeted an apology for running a promotion in the Sun newspaper. A few weeks ago, Paperchase said that it would not place any more marketing campaigns with the Daily Mail after receiving “hundreds” of complaints. […]
