Swift, the fifty-year-old plumbing behind global banking, has switched on a blockchain — and it may matter more than any coin launched this year. July 2026 · Money & Payments Markets & Policy You have almost certainly never heard of Swift, and you have almost certainly used it. Every time money has crossed a border […]
The Boring Giant Just Learned a New Trick Read More »
America just approved its first crypto-backed mortgages. The idea is clever, the mechanics are seductive, and the risk is hiding in the second loan. July 2026 · Personal Finance Markets & Policy A young couple in Michigan have just bought a house without selling a single Bitcoin. And depending on how you look at it,
You Can Now Buy a House With Bitcoin. Should You? Read More »
A whole industry is built on making you want more. Here is a quiet argument for knowing when to stop. Lifestyle · Wellbeing There is a story I think about more than almost any other, and it takes about thirty seconds to tell. A hedge fund manager throws a lavish party at his enormous house
The Bravest Word in Finance Is “Enough” Read More »
No kit, no membership, no lycra. The dullest possible workout may be the one that actually lasts. Health & Fitness I want to make the least fashionable fitness argument available to me, and I want to make it with a straight face. The best exercise for most people, most of the time, is walking. Not
The Most Underrated Exercise Is Just Walking Read More »
Self-custody sounds noble until you understand what it actually asks of you. Let me be the friend who tells you the truth. Crypto · Explainer Let me tell you the single most frightening sentence in cryptocurrency, and then let me make it useful rather than terrifying. If you truly own crypto, not an entry on
Twelve Words Between You and Everything Read More »
Rates near 4.7% look generous — until inflation and the taxman have their turn. Here is the sum the adverts never show you. Personal Finance There is a particular feeling I want to describe, because I suspect you have had it. You move your money to a savings account paying a headline rate that looks
Your Savings Account Is Quietly Losing Read More »
Gen Z is buying flip phones on purpose. Before you laugh, notice who is selling you the alternative — and what it costs. Lifestyle Somewhere in Britain this morning, a twenty-year-old flipped a phone shut to end a call, and felt a small, precise satisfaction that no touchscreen has ever once delivered. She did it
The Dumbest Phone in the Room Is Winning Read More »
Nobody tells you that the sensible way to lose fat in your forties is to spend most of your energy trying not to lose muscle. Health & Fitness I would like to begin with an apology to my thirties, during which I ran. Not for pleasure, you understand. I ran the way one serves a
Your Belly Fat Does Not Take Requests Read More »
Nearly half our waking life is spent somewhere other than where we are. That is not a scheduling problem. It is the problem. Lifestyle “In a minute.” I have said those two words more times than I would like to count, usually to a small person holding something up for me to look at, while
The Underrated Art of the Ordinary Tuesday Read More »
Six hundred events in a Welsh market town. What Hay 2026 was really selling was an hour of undivided thought. 21–31 May 2026 · Hay-on-Wye, Powys Hay Festival’s chief executive describes it as “part Glastonbury, part Davos”, which is the best description of anything I have read this year. Eleven days. Six hundred events. A
Part Glastonbury, Part Davos, All Attention Read More »
