To steal from William Gibson, Italian efficiency is excellent, it’s just not evenly distributed. That was running through my mind for the very brief time it took me to get my first shot of the Astra-Zeneca Covid vaccine yesterday evening. I was predisposed, I confess, because actually booking the appoinment (for which thanks to The Main Squeeze) had also been a miracle of efficiency and good fortune.

A Blight on Soviet Science is a recently published long read about Nikolai Vavilov. It’s a good read too, a well-told account of the life of the extraordinary botanist and seed collector, his fight with Trofim Lysenko and eventual downfall and death in prison of starvation. Just one thing about it worried me.

The picture at the top of the article.

A couple of weeks ago someone shared a list of things that people can’t help themselves but recommend to others, things that are so useful or worthwhile that you can’t imagine how you lived without them.¹ Of course I skimmed through it. There were things I’m already doing (plain text) and things I’m never going to do (children)². There were also things that elicited a masssive “Huh?”

Last Saturday, at about 9:30 pm, and with the curfew kicking in at 10, I realised that I was a long way from closing the move ring on my Apple Watch. We had just had a lovely evening out at friends, and they had kindly driven us home, so that scotched the idea of walking home. Off I went, haring round the neighbourhood, and when I got home there was still an annoying gap in the ring. WTF, I thought, and proceeded to do some jumping jacks. Then running on the spot. Then some more jumping jacks, and all the while The Main Squeeze looking at me with benevolent patience and also incredulity.

A funny collision of things happened yesterday morning. I had just listened to a Broken Record podcast in which Rick Rubin chatted with Dave Cobb, and in the middle of the mutual love-fest, Rick said that the latest musician to have really excited him was James Blake. I’ve never heard of James Bla...