Kester Brewin

Listening to the radio this morning I was struck by the odd similarity between three of the major news items. Firstly, ubiquitously, there’s the economic crisis – which more and more seems to boil down to the fact that people – that’s you, me and them – got greedy. With the boss of Barclays now [...]

I’m currently consulting on a BBC programme to be broadcast in the autumn which is all about the mathematics of everyday life. Not allowed to say any more about it, but there is a section there about how Google can inform hospitals of impending flu epidemics days before they actually hit by tracking the search [...]

Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ is back in the news again after Christian fundamentalists took a hammer to a print of it in a gallery in France. If you’ve never seen the photograph ‘up close’ then I’d highly recommend it. It’s far more beautiful than the title suggests, and a subtle piece of trickster-work. It is [...]

Very special day today: 50 years since the first human being orbited the earth. On 12th April 1961, Yuri Gagarin was launched by a Vostok rocket into space, and completed an orbit of the earth. He became an international celebrity and travelled the world to talk about his trip and promote the Soviet Union. 50 [...]

Amazon now allow anyone to publish to their store using ‘Kindle Direct Publishing‘ so I’ve uploaded a short story called ‘Into Great Science’ which I wrote last year. “Fumbling, floating, he found the hammer, and headed for the window…” In lean times NASA has gone into partnership with the Catholic Church, launching a ‘Voyager’-style probe [...]

I want to retain a healthy skepticism about the power of Twitter and other social networks to bring about substantive change. There has been a lot of hype about the Green revolution in Iran, and whether it was tweeting that caused it, and I’d be tempted to side with Malcolm Gladwell – substantive change comes [...]

Good news – the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority is now extending its remit to cover marketing claims on websites. Just to make sure we’re clear, I’ve been through all claims made on this site, and can safely say that I am fully compliant. All the below can be fully verified, viz.: – Buying ‘Other‘ is [...]

The political shake-up in the Middle East is going to have serious repercussions across the West too. A democratic system does not prevent those with extremist views coming to power by the will of the people, and there are many in the US and Israel who are concerned that releasing Mubarak’s stranglehold in Egypt will [...]

I’m perfectly sure he won’t give a crap, but I’m certain I’ll feel better for it – I’m done with Ian McEwan. He’s a gifted writer, no mistake about that, and I’ve genuinely enjoyed some of his books. But then Saturday was just…too knowing. Too aware of its own cleverness. A bit showy. But whatever, [...]

Really pleased to announce that the UK edition of ‘Other‘ is available in the US and Canada as an eBook via Amazon (as it is in the UK too.) As I’m sure you know, you don’t need an actual Kindle to read Kindle downloads – you can get the software for free on your Mac [...]