In 1485, Johannes Trithemius*, abbot of Sponheim in what is now western Germany, wrote a passionate treatise explaining why the newly invented printing press was a dangerous mistake. For Trithemius, the act of writing brought monks closer to God, and the printing press was a dangerous error. Besides the proximity to God, Trithemius was concerned about the source of his Benedictine monastery's income.

During a recent email exchange, Only Connect’s editor, Richard Pooley, and I discussed the ongoing negotiations between Iran and the United States and whether President Trump could do with some basic facts on negotiating with the Iranians. Both Trump and the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, have written books on negotiating. However, Trump’s ghost-writer, Tony Schwartz, and the publisher of The Art of the Deal, Howard Kaminsky, claim Trump didn’t write a word of it.

The British generation now drawing its old age pensions differs markedly in at least one respect from Generation X or Z or Q, or whatever now supports the Green Party. Us oldies spent most of our young lives smelling of slightly stale tobacco, with ash trays (occasionally even emptied) in every room of the house, and at every opportunity, flicking lighters for a quick draw. And there were plenty of opportunities: in the lecture hall, on buses and trains, in aircraft (later,

For those old enough to remember, the song Melting Pot was the debut single released in 1969 by UK pop group, Blue Mink. Although it has since been banned from the airways for “offensive racist language”, it was in fact a hymn to racial tolerance and multiculturism. This ‘hippy’ call for blending and racial integration was banned in 2019 as “likely to cause offence” after just ONE complaint to Ofcom when the song was played on ‘golden oldies’ station Gold. Frankly I never lik